Two women from opposite sides of Australia became Good Samaritan Oblates recently, with both saying they felt as though they “had come home” when they joined their local Oblate groups.
By Debra Vermeer
Elizabeth McKenna made her Oblation in Perth, Western Australia, while Sally FitzGerald made hers in Glebe, New South Wales, following completion of a formation and mentoring process.
Marie Mohr, the Oblate Community Coordinator and member of the Good Samaritan Oblate Leadership Team, said the formation began when a person expressed an interest in the Oblate life and entered the Inquirer stage.
“At that point, we nominate someone, either a Sister or an Oblate, to be a support person for them as they explore what it means to live this way of life,” Marie said.
“Depending on individual circumstances, after about 12 or 18 months as an Inquirer they move on to Candidacy, which involves a deeper formation in Benedictine values, Lectio Divina, the Rule of St Benedict and living the life of an Oblate, moving prayerfully through a series of learning modules until they reach the next step of readiness.”
When it is agreed that they are ready to make their Oblation, Candidates are invited to make promises that mirror the Benedictine vows of Stability, Conversion of Heart and Obedience (Listening).
Marie said that those who attended Sally’s Oblation in Glebe, described it as a “most magnificent celebration”.
Sally was born and raised in Harden-Murrumburrah in NSW and now lives in Canberra. She is an Aboriginal woman of the Murrawarri country of her mother and is a Councillor for the ACT on the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Catholic Council (NATSICC).
As a young woman, Sally entered the Novitiate for the Sisters of Mercy in Goulburn, but left before taking her first vows and moved with her family to Canberra, where she worked for the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.
“Then I walked away from the Catholic Church and from God and everything,” she said
A knock on the door one day from somebody collecting for the St Vincent de Paul Society ended with her joining Vinnies, eventually becoming a board member, and finding her way back to a relationship with God. It was also through Vinnies that she met her husband, Roger. They have been married for 41 years and have four children and one granddaughter.
Sally worked at Canberra’s Calvary Hospital for 20 years before retiring eight years ago and accepting an invitation from Archbishop Mark Coleridge to become a NATSICC Councillor for the ACT.
It was at a NATSICC conference in Townsville in 2022 that Sally met Good Samaritan Sister Judy Foster and Oblate Kathy Jones.
Judy signed Sally up to receive The Good Oil, and while reading it one day she noticed a small item inviting people to consider becoming Oblates and providing a contact address.
“When I read that I thought, ‘Thank you God, this is exactly what I’m looking for’, even though I didn’t really know I’d been looking for anything!” Sally said.
From there, Good Samaritan Sister Sonia Wagner put Sally in touch with Oblate Marie Milne from the NSW South Coast Group, and Sally drove from Canberra to Gerringong for her first meeting.
“I felt really at home there at that meeting,” she said. “I don’t know why. I didn’t know one single person there, but I felt at home.”
Sister Clare Condon SGS with Good Samaritan Oblate Sally FitzGerald (right). Image: Beth Riolo.
She continued going to the meetings, staying at times with members of the group, and was then put in touch with Good Samaritan Sister Clare Condon, who also lives in Canberra, and who accompanied Sally through her Oblate journey.
“She walked beside me and guided me,” Sally said. “I’d ask her questions, and she’d give me the answers, and she challenged me, but in a very indirect way, and she was really, really good.”
As she learnt more about Benedictine spirituality, Sally began to see how relevant St Benedict’s Rule remains today, while also experiencing the hospitality of the group members, who welcomed her not only to the meetings, but also into their homes.
“Then one day, Clare said to me, ‘I think you’re ready’ (to become an Oblate). And I said, ‘Thank you God.’ I’m just so thankful that I found this.”
Sally said the day of her Oblation in Glebe was made even more special by the presence of all her children. Congregational Leader Sister Catherine McCahill received her promises, and a number of Oblates and Sisters attended at the Congregational Centre’s chapel, followed by a gathering afterwards.
“It was a beautiful, beautiful day in every sense of the word,” she said. “It was very overwhelming but also very calming at the same time, and I just thought to myself, ‘This is where I belong.’”
Meanwhile, in Western Australia, it was that same feeling of “coming home” that struck Elizabeth when she began meeting with the local Oblate group after returning to her hometown of Perth following many years away.
“It was that sense of belonging that really stood out to me when I came back to Perth, to know that there is this group of like-minded people who you can share things with and be with,” she said.
Elizabeth McKenna makes her Oblation promises to Sister Michelle Reid SGS (left). Image: Donna Cooper.
Elizabeth was brought up in a Catholic family and parish community in Perth. At age 15 she joined the Sisters of St John of God and spent 13 years with them, teaching in the remote Kimberley region.
“It was just wonderful, and even though I left them13 years later, I have no regrets, and it was certainly part of my formation,” she said.
Elizabeth returned to Perth, working as a teacher and eventually becoming a school principal for 11 years before taking a position with the Catholic Education Office in Perth for five years and then embarking on a 12-month teacher exchange in Madrid, Spain.
After returning to Australia, she was employed with the Catholic Education Office in Sydney before moving to Adelaide where she stayed for 17 years, working as a principal, and for the Catholic Schools Office, and finally at Flinders University, with student teachers.
Elizabeth retired on her 74th birthday and, decades after leaving, she returned to Perth, where, once again, she met up with Good Samaritan Sister Anna Warlow, She had known Anna through the WA Catholic Education Office years previously and had kept in contact with her. Anna invited her to come along to the local Oblate group.
“So, Anna inviting me to join the group was a real lifesaver, because when I came home after 22 years, life had changed here for me. That was my introduction to the Oblates,” Elizabeth said.
“As time went on, Anna dropped a few hints and gave me a few little nudges and invited me to consider becoming an Oblate.
“But, having previously left religious life, I just felt I couldn’t make that commitment, and Anna said that was OK, that I could keep coming along to the group as a friend.”
Elizabeth stayed as a friend of the group for 10 years before finally making the decision to become an Oblate.
Good Samaritan Oblate Elizabeth McKenna. Image: Donna Cooper.
Because of her long association with the group, Elizabeth’s time as an Inquirer was abbreviated and in April this year she started the Candidacy program with Oblate Liz Nimmo, from the NSW South Coast Group, as her companion.
“Even though we were doing it remotely, it worked well,” Elizabeth said. “We had phone calls every second Tuesday and we’d go through the formation modules, and we just finished in time for me to become an Oblate in September.”
Good Samaritan Council Member and Oblate Delegate Sister Michelle Reid received Elizabeth’s Oblation promises during the WA Oblate Group’s reflection weekend last month, which also incorporated Oblates from South Australia.
“It was a lovely celebration, a really blessed and joyous time,” Elizabeth said.
She said that while her decision to become an Oblate might have taken longer than some, those years of being a friend to the group, gave her a deep insight into living the Good Samaritan-Benedictine Oblate life.
“Firstly, there was the hospitality, which is such a strong Benedictine value. When Anna first invited me along, everyone in that group received me with such warmth, so the hospitality stood out really strongly.
“But also, the people there had a deep sense of prayer in a way that was real, and strong and authentic, which led me to a deepening relationship with God.”
Elizabeth said that making her Oblate commitment had brought her full circle in her spiritual life.
“I learned so much about Benedict and his Rule, of course, but I learned so much about myself as well. I could feel myself changing and I just knew that after years of feeling I had veered off the bitumen road, and was wandering in the wilderness, I was back on the road again.”
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