The Sisters of the Good Samaritan have been farewelled from the Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn after almost 150 years of ministry and presence in the local faith community.
By Debra Vermeer
The Sisters first came to the area in 1878 when they were invited to establish a school at Braidwood in New South Wales. They went on to found primary schools in Queanbeyan, Moruya, and, from 1928, the Canberra suburb of Manuka in what became the Cathedral Parish of St Christopher’s.
In addition to primary schools, they were invited by Archbishop Eris O’Brien to play a key role in establishing the first Catholic secondary school for girls, with Canberra Catholic Girls’ High School (now Merici College) opening in March 1959.
The school, located in Braddon, featured a staff drawn from several religious orders, with the Good Samaritan Sisters taking a central role. A second school using the same model was later opened at Griffith on Canberra’s south side (now St Clare’s College).
A long line of Sisters served in the Archdiocese over the decades, with Sisters Sue Hallams, Rita Reilly and Clare Condon being the last to leave.
The farewell took place within Sunday Mass on 26 April this year at St Christopher’s Cathedral, followed by a morning tea in the Haydon Centre. A number of Sisters attended, including Congregational Leader Sister Catherine McCahill SGS, as well as religious from across the Archdiocese, friends, parishioners and former students.
In his homily, Archbishop Christopher Prowse thanked the Sisters for their long and distinguished contribution to the Archdiocese.
“We welcome the religious of the Archdiocese to this Mass. In a special way, we welcome the Sisters of the Good Samaritan. Those who have been part of the community in recent years are here. We welcome Sisters Clare, Rita and Sue. However, the Sisters of the Good Samaritan have been with us for well over 100 years,” he said.
He thanked the Sisters for their farewell gift to the Archdiocese, a grandfather clock which had been given to them by the first parish priest of St Christopher’s Parish, Monsignor Patrick Haydon.
“That clock has just recently been returned to us with the Sisters’ best wishes. We thank them and we farewell the hundreds of Sisters who have served in this Archdiocese in such wonderful pastoral ways,” Archbishop Prowse said.
Clare said the return of the grandfather clock was a full circle moment. “The parishioners of Queanbeyan gave it as a gift to Father Patrick Haydon when he was leaving to become the parish priest of Canberra in 1928,” she said.
“Some years later he gave it to the Sisters in the convent across the road from the presbytery in Manuka and it has been with us ever since. So, when we knew we were leaving we asked the Archbishop if he would like it back, and now it has found a home in the Patrick Haydon Centre, which seems very fitting.”
Congregational Leader Sister Catherine McCahill SGS said the association between the Sisters and the people of the Archdiocese had been long, convivial and fruitful from when the first four Sisters – Agnes Hart, Walburga Byrne, Patrick Carroll and Josephine Smith – arrived in Braidwood in 1878.
“Initially, the main ministry of the Sisters was in teaching,” she said. “There were boarders in Braidwood, Queanbeyan and Moruya. Sisters cared for the students at school and at home. There was always visitation of families.
“In later years, Sisters have been involved in a broader range of ministries and outreach – tertiary education, disability services, pastoral work, church offices and a variety of other activities.
“From the Manuka, Red Hill and Calwell communities, we have moved out to other ministries.
“Today, I also want to acknowledge the women who joined the Congregation from these communities, nearly 30 women. They made a significant contribution to the life and mission of our Congregation. We have known and loved them.
“We give thanks for you, the communities amongst whom our Sisters have lived and ministered.”
Clare said that while moving on is an integral part of religious life, it is always difficult for Sisters to leave behind a place where they have many fond memories as well as friends, former colleagues and parishioners.
She moved to Canberra after completing her terms as Congregational Leader, about eight years ago, and said she will miss the people and the groups with whom she was connected, including the archdiocesan women’s group and the Concerned Catholics group who are engaged with Church reform.
“It is hard to leave those people and those connections you’ve made,” Clare said. “But I know it’s time for us to make the move, to be closer to the rest of the Congregation. For health reasons and for other reasons, we needed to come to Sydney.”
Rita, now aged 90, who grew up in Canberra, said the Sisters had always been a part of local people’s lives and families.
“I can remember as a child, my mother and other women would take meals over to the Sisters and there was a lovely kind of friendship and communication among them. People did all they could to help the Sisters when they came to Canberra and it was wonderful to be part of,” she said.
After joining the Congregation, Rita taught in various parts of Australia, before returning to Canberra about 30 years ago. One of her primary ministries there was as coordinator of the Faith and Light group, a worldwide, ecumenical Christian movement founded in 1971 to support people with intellectual disabilities, their families and friends.
The group, who in a recent newsletter described Rita as “our beloved friend” and a dedicated and committed leader, held a special farewell for her, which she said was “beautiful, with lots of tears”.
Meanwhile, Sue, who relocated to Sydney at the end of July last year, had been the last Sister of the Good Samaritan to work in Catholic education in the Archdiocese, having retired from her much-loved role as pastoral assistant at St Francis Xavier College in 2021.
“After I left the school, I kept busy. I distributed Communion at a nursing home once a month and kept in touch with a couple of the families from the school with whom I had a connection. Within our little community I did a lot of cooking. I loved cooking,” she said.
“I made some very good friends and colleagues in Canberra and I miss being there.”
Also attending the farewell function at St Christopher’s was Moira Najdecki, a former Director of Catholic Education in the Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn and a current member of the Good Samaritan Education Assembly. Moira was educated by the Sisters from Kindergarten at St Benedict’s, Narrabundah, right through high school at Catholic Girls High School Braddon and then Griffith.
“The Sisters certainly formed a community around the schools they were in,” Moira said. “I remember them coming around to our houses and getting to know people, and our parents helped them out in various ways when they needed help. It was a good education that they provided too, and they were strong role models as women.
“As I moved around the Archdiocese when I was the Director, there was still a strong sense of where those schools had come from, the good, solid foundation the Sisters had laid, and the legacy they left.”
Sue said the Mass and morning tea was a chance to say goodbye to the community of which the Sisters had been so much a part over the years.
“It was a really lovely celebration,” she said. “It’s the people we’ll miss the most, being part of their lives. It was a real privilege.”
