It might strike terror in the hearts of many Catholics but Judy Woodward says she loves knocking on doors and speaking with complete strangers.
She’s been sharing her faith through the Legion of Mary for more than 20 years now.
It’s not the only work they do, she says, and it’s not for everyone but it is something that she thoroughly enjoys.
Mrs Woodward joined over 200 of her fellow legionaries on Saturday, 5 November at St Joachim’s, Victoria Park, to celebrate 90 years of the Legion’s existence and the countless prayers and acts of charity offered by members during that time.
“There’s no good keeping your faith to yourself,” Mrs Woodward says. “You’ve got to share it with others.”
For 10 years she has been active in Legion’s Glendalough parish group, knocking on every door in the suburb, including the inner-city suburb’s many flats and apartments, at least twice in that time.
She’s been struck, she says, by the amount of lonely people, young and old, she has encountered along the way.
Although personal sanctification lies at the heart of Legion involvement, members are doing some of the most needed work in our fractured and atomised society.
“You’re touching people’s lives. It doesn’t matter whose door you knock on or whether they’re Catholic or not; we just greet them with love and friendship,” Mrs Woodward says.
“We very rarely get a rude answer and if they’re Catholic, usually they’re just in shock that we’re doing it.”
The Holy Spirit and the spiritual formation received at weekly Legion meetings coalesce to give Legion members the appropriate words to say.
“All of a sudden things would be coming out of your mouth and you’d be thinking ‘where did that come from?’” Mrs Woodward said.
“We listen to people; we don’t convert and we don’t preach.
“By our attitude and our love, we know Jesus will touch people.”
Mrs Woodward first got involved with the Legion in the mid-1980s.
In her 40s and with all her children then at school, she was already volunteering for charitable organisations but said she simply “didn’t feel whole”. Then an invitation to join came through a local pilgrimage.
“I went along and thought, “this is a bit old hat for me but if God’s asking, I’ll give it a month,” she says. “That was in 1986 and I haven’t left yet.” .
For more information on the Legion of Mary, call 9328 2726.