JOSEPHITE SPIRITUALITY

In the context of Catholic schools

established by the Sisters of St Joseph in the Charism of Mary MacKillop
BLESSED
MARY
MACKILLOP

And the Sisters

of St Joseph of
the Sacred Heart
 What do
you know
about the
Josephites?

Sculpture by John Elliott

Julian Tenison Woods

Born in London
on 15th November, 1832
 Julian in France

In 1853
 goes to France and tramps the countryside of
Auvergne before entering the Marist Novitiate in
Lyons
 meets small groups of working class religious
women (Sisters of St Joseph of Le Puy) who
minister with the poor, giving them religious
instruction and teaching them basic skills so that
they can support themselves.
 Sisters of St Joseph
Founded Le Puy, France, 1650
Branches of Le Puy Sisters of St
Joseph Throughout World
It was while I was in Auvergne that I formed
the idea of the Sisters of St Joseph.

I found that in many parts of France, a convent system

prevailed which was of great assistance to the Church in
every way. The daughters of farmers and humble people
were the sources from which the convents were recruited.
They were not highly educated, nor probably very refined,
but they lived a life of great edification, and supplied most
of the wants which religious communities could fulfil.
… They lived in great poverty and simplicity, and there was
no fine ladyism about them.
J. T. Woods, ‘Memoirs’.
 New Horizons
1854
 Julian returns to England and his family
(because of ill health)
 Travels to Hobart Town at the suggestion of

Bishop Wilson with a view to teaching and

doing final studies for ordination
 He goes to Adelaide to join his brother

1855
 Meets Bishop Murphy (Adelaide)
 Ordination

1856
Julian places himself under the
guidance of the Jesuits at
Sevenhill to prepare for
ordination as a priest in the
Adelaide diocese

January 1857
He is ordained and moves to
Penola
 Julian sees need for Sisters of St Joseph

(Recalling Sisters in France) …

I had been accustomed to regard a nun as
one on whom a great deal of money had to be spent, and who must
France be raised above the labouring classes, both in means and in
education. I felt instinctively that a nun to be one with the poor, and a
servant of the poor, should belong to the humbler classes, especially
as the immense wants of the Church in that direction could only be
effectively and abundantly recruited from that class. But when I saw
how the want was supplied in France, I made up my mind that I would
use all my efforts to extend these institutions to my own country,
though I never dreamt of trying myself to establish a thing of the kind
at that time, as naturally, it seemed utterly out of my power. J. T. Woods,
‘Memoirs’

Australia
 Mary MacKillop
 b. 15th Jan 1842 in Brunswick St, Fitzroy, Melbourne.
 Scottish immigrant parents Alexander and Flora
 Eldest of 8 – often poor – father had no financial sense
 Scottish Catholics
 Alex left seminary – “determined to repair his shame”
 18 yrs 1862 nanny to uncle’s children on a station near
Penola – meets Julian woods
 Taught in Victoria
 1866 – returns to Penola with her sisters Lexie and
Annie
 Opened first Josephite School
 Old stable (converted by her brother)
 50 children
 The Australian Landscape
 Harshness
 Oppression of women, children & poor
 No central schooling for poor
 Poor, sick and mentally ill – no welfare
 Drought, gold fever

“We must never leave a good work untried, and never spare
ourselves”
 19 March 1866 St Joseph’s Day
 24 yrs old
 simple black dress
 Took the name “Mary of St. Joseph”
 Simple life defined by Julian Woods/ Sisters of
Le Puy
 Worked with her sister for Julian
 Students were illiterate
 Curriculum – read, write and arithmetic
 Unique – integrated RE into everything
 Julian Woods

 SE Adelaide – worried
about ignorance of
children – wanted to
found a religious
institution to teach
religious and secular
knowledge
 Mary was a teacher in
his school – he was the
director of Catholic
Education
 Founding Story
 Penola – hardly any Catholics – very rich
 Catholic education for children of poor country Catholic families
 Care for orphans, visited gaols, asylums, and destitute.
 Followed the labourers, rail workers into the rural regions of
Australia
 15 August 1867 – Mary made her first vows

 1867 – Rules of teaching in the Institute of St Joseph

 Teach through religious maxims and rules of conduct
 Eradicate their faults
 Form their characters
 Prepare them for the sacraments
First Sister and Mother Superior
 1867 become Mother superior of newly formed
Sisters of St. Joseph of the Sacred Heart
 Moved to a convent in Adelaide in order to oversee
the development of schools in South Australia
 Issues with Julian Woods began (mysticism)
 In Queensland

 Invited by 1st Catholic Bishop of Brisbane –

James Quinn
 31 Dec 1869 – to help set up Catholic
Education in QLD
 St Mary’s, South Brisbane.
 By 1875 – 11 convents of Sisters of St. Joseph
in Brisbane and growing
 10 years in Queensland and they taught half
the students in Catholic schools
 Fought with Quinn – wanted autonomy
 Quinn asked them to leave
 20 years later returned to Rockhampton
 1915 arrived at Nundah
Meanwhile whilst Mary is in
Brisbane...the story continues
 Woods – director of Cath Ed in Adelaide
(didn’t use position well)
 Heavily in debt
 A visionary but volatile and erratic
 Woods sacked
 Josephite’s lived within the parish
communities – priests wanted to control
them
 Excommunication

1871, 22nd Sept (retracted

a yr later)
Mary returns from QLD
Woods in exile from
Adelaide
Bishop Shiel wanted to
reign in the order under
his authority and
accused Mary of inciting
in her Sisters to
“disobedience and
defiance”. Accused of
drinking.

Deep trust in God

Trust in God’s providence

 Mary sets out for Rome
1872 – 31 yrs old
 1873 meets Pope Pius IX
 1890 – approval of the
Catholic Church
 Recognised as religious
institute
 1902 – suffers stroke while
in NZ
D. 8th August 1909 – Mt Street/Nth
Street
 Beautified 1995 January 19th Randwick
Racecourse
Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart
Throughout the World
 Charism
 A charism is a gift from God for the
Church and is the special way a person
approaches life.

 Mary MacKillop's charism may be

summarised as (following slides):
Radical Trust
 The concept of radical trust comes from Mary
MacKillop’s conviction that God would always
provide and that if she set her heart on loyal
service of the Church and the vision of Jesus, then
material needs would be taken care of.

 What might this Josephite understanding of Radical Trust look,

sound and feel like in a Catholic school community today?
Discernment
 Followers of the vision of Mary MacKillop are
required to discern the urgent needs of our time and
to act accordingly. They are to look for those who are
voiceless and excluded-by others and themselves- in
our world, and in the Church.
We are urged to recapture the radical response of
Mary MacKillop and her companions to the “misery
and wretchedness” of our era.

 What might a Josephite understanding of Discernment look,

sound and feel like in a Catholic school today?
Faith
 Josephite spirituality calls us to a commitment to our
own conversion on a daily basis: it is an
acknowledgement that we have never arrived at full
belief; that the One we search for is never fully found
and that we are always on a journey to fulfilment and
reconciliation. In this we turn to the Word which
continually nourishes and transforms us and our world.

 What might a Josephite understanding of Faith look, sound and

feel like in a Catholic school today?
Courage
 Followers of the charism of Mary MacKillop are
called to live lives of courage- not just to face the
blocks of fear, conformity, lack of truthfulness,
arrogance, entrenched attitudes and exclusion, but
also to risk suffering and failure in the cause.

 What might a Josephite understanding of Courage look, sound

and feel like in a Catholic school today?
Simplicity
 In the spirit of Mary MacKillop, we are called to
live simply, in mind and heart; to travel lightly and
to make room for all because we are not
encumbered with too much nor desire to have it all.

 What might a Josephite understanding of Simplicity look, sound

and feel like in a Catholic school today?
Joy
 Optimism is born out of courage and hope and so, as
followers of the charism of Mary MacKillop, we
plunge into the very worst the world can offer as
people of Resurrection. Believing that love is the key
to eternal life, we exhibit a joy in life and death that
causes others to ask its source that they too may have
it in their lives.

 What might a Josephite understanding of Joy look, sound and

feel like in a Catholic school today?
Prayer
 We do not live and work alone. It is not our vision we
seek to bring to the world. We are called and chosen
by an ever-present God who is our hope and our
strength. As inheritors of the Josephite charism,
wherever we are, whoever we are, however we can,
whatever we do, it is preceded, supported and
reflected on in prayer with the One who sends us out.

 What might a Josephite understanding of Prayer look, sound

and feel like in a Catholic school today?
Wholehearted Generosity
 The Josephite charism teaches that our desire and commitment
for union with God calls us to be wholeheartedly generous with
who we are and what we have after the heart and mind of
our compassionate God revealed in Jesus. We continually have
to make difficult decisions out of our option for those people
afflicted by injustice and poverty, or in situations of
wretchedness and misery.

 What might a Josephite understanding of wholehearted generosity look,

sound and feel like in a Catholic school today?
Mutual Relationship and Recognition

 In the Josephite tradition, communion is nurtured by a

deep spirit of mutual respect and relationship. We
must be the change we see in others. Neither do we
presume to fully know or own or be able to define
the MacKillop charism: we are filled with joy when we
recognise it in the spark of it in others.

 What might a Josephite understanding of mutual relationship

and recognition look, sound and feel like in a Catholic school
today?
Loyal Service to the Tradition and the
Local Church
 The Josephite tradition is loyal to the local church,
seeking to discern our mission and ministry there
and to draw from the storehouse of tradition
treasures that will enrich us on the quest.

 What might a Josephite understanding of loyal service to the

tradition and the local church look, sound and feel like in a
Catholic school today?
Do you identify with “Josephite”?
Is this your charism?

 “ordinary”,
 “roll-your-sleeves-up approach”,
hospitality,
 practicality,
 “being with” the other,
 simplicity, humility, no fan-fare,
 serving God in the neighbour.
 The Sisters of St
Joseph
Founded by Julian Edmund Tenison
Woods and Mary MacKillop – 1866.