A few thoughts about Saint Mary of the Cross MacKillop

It is a puzzle to new arrivals to New Zealand from the UK of Europe why a fuss is being made of Mary MacKillop.  It all has to do with the youth and inexperience of the Church in these parts.  In the Southern Hemisphere we are not used to people being made saints! Mary MacKillop (1842 – 1909) is actually from the Northern Hemisphere.  She arrived in Australia with her parents from Scotland as an eight year old.

According to her journal from early childhood, as far back as I can remember, He gave me such a sense of His watchful presence that I would feel myself reproved for my smallest faults. By the time she was 24 years of age, she had set up a new Religious Institute to serve the needs of the struggling people of her day.  This was in the 1860s,

Part of her appeal comes from her resilience in the face of opposition.  At 29, she was excommunicated from the Church she loved through a misunderstanding on the part of her Bishop.  When she was reinstated after 5 months, she went to Rome to have the Constitutions of the Congregation approved.  By the time she set out on this journey in 1873, there were over 120 women who had joined the Order, working in 44 schools and four charitable institutions.

Mary MacKillop is one of the most outstanding figures in Australia’s history.  I know that her perseverance in the face of adversity, her pleas for justice on behalf of those unfairly treated and her practical example of holiness has become a source of inspiration for all Australians.  Generations have reason to be grateful to her.  (Benedict XVI)

Among Mary MacKillop’s foundational beliefs was that the compassionate love of God was available to all whom she met.  She had a consistent vision of a loving God at work in the world and present in every circumstance of her life.  She constantly sought God’s will for herself and for the Institute.

Among her sayings was: If we have love in our hearts, we shall have God with us.

She would surely have supported the theme and focus for last month’s Social Justice Week – Your people will be my people: Creating inclusive and connected communities.   She also wrote: Be kind to the poor foreigners.  Remember I was a foreigner once, and as such was never laughed at or unkindly criticised.

Mary MacKillop had a compassionate heart, big enough to enclose all humanity.  No one was excluded.

She visited New Zealand, probably passing through Tauranga on her way to Matata where her sisters, the ‘Brown Joes’, were established.

Mary MacKillop was canonised in Rome on Sunday 17 October: she is the first Australian to be canonised a saint.