By Bridget Spinks
For two Religious
Sisters of Mercy from Michigan, spending Saturday afternoons renovating their
new convent in an inner city Sydney suburb has not been half bad.
Earlier this year,
between Easter and Pentecost, St Joseph’s Convent Camperdown adjacent to the parish church and a Sydney
University girls’ college became available when
a previous religious community returned to their
provincial house.
So every Saturday bar four since May,
Sr Mary Julian Ekman RSM, Sr Moira Debono RSM and Sr Lydia Marie Allen RSM have steadily worked to convert the
historical Josephite convent into a “Home of Mercy” with
up to 12 parishioners and volunteers at a time.
Sr Moira, who has been in Australia since May last
year, said the Sisters are doing the renovations to make it a true “House of
Mercy where all can experience the mercy of God”.
"I think when you
bring someone into the house, it speaks to their dignity and that’s the charism of Mother McAuley," Sr Lydia Marie said, in reference to their original Irish
foundress.
The Sisters do all their
own cooking and cleaning as they believe in caring
for their own property and as part of their vow of
poverty.
They’re
also grateful for all the help they receive
from volunteers and for donations such as paint
from their generous benefactors.
She said it has been a unifying
experience. "Everyone’s happy.
You see them at the end of the day and it’s like they’ve been friends for
ages," Sr Lydia
Marie said.
"It’s a good way
for us to be with our friends; and working on a common project you can talk
about God while you’re painting or ripping up the linoleum – it makes for
opportunities to talk about Godly things," Sr
Moira said.
Some strangers have even knocked on
the door ready to help, having heard about the opportunity through emails from friends of friends.
But University of Notre Dame Australia Medicine student Jennifer Suen, 26, is no stranger, having come
from Cherrybrook in Sydney’s western suburbs to help the Sisters
three times.
Ms Suen says she enjoys
the camaraderie of meeting new people from various Sydney dioceses while
painting, gardening or eating lunch together.
"It’s fun and It
doesn’t feel like you’re working; it just feels like you’re helping renovate a friend’s
house," she said.
For Sr Lydia Marie, a
trained psychologist, the experience of living in a home that originally housed
Josephites, and later Daughters of Charity is very meaningful.
"What I find grounding is
that Sisters have always lived
here, always prayed here; every day, every night," she said.
"Even the walls are
imbued with prayer, it’s not just a simple building; its a home of prayer, and
always has been."
Sr Moira, a lecturer in
Theology at UNDA, notes that the
convent is situated on ground where Australia’s first Blessed, Mary MacKillop, would have walked over 100 years ago.
“In 1889,
before the first cornerstone of the Camperdown convent of St Joseph was later
laid in 1915, there was a cottage here next door to the Church," Sr Moira says, "and
Sister Mary MacKillop died in 1909.”
“It’s
part of Australian culture. Don’t you ever think that [Bl Mary MacKillop] would have walked here? There were so
many convents of St Joseph and she would have made visitations to all of them, that’s
what foundresses do,” Sr Moira said.
Today the Sisters continue this tradition of prayer by
following their normal rhythm of life.
Beginning prayer at 5.30am, and later on the
weekend, each day begins with an
hour and a half of prayer,
followed by Mass.
Every day they have a Holy Hour
of Adoration at 5.30pm in the Chapel followed by supper, some
time for recreation and later Compline before retiring to rest.
Their intentions include
praying for the priesthood, in reparation for sin and
for others’
needs.
"All our holy hours
are open to guests," Sr Moira says.
For 33 years Sr Moira has been a Sister of Mercy bringing
Christ’s mercy to the poor, sick and ignorant. Sr
Lydia Marie has served for 25 years.
The goal of their life,
they say, is to
show that at the centre of the Cross: "the mercy of God meets the misery
of mankind".
"There are many
ways to serve the poor, sick and ignorant. You can be poor humanly, spiritually,
relationally; and this is where we try to
serve," Sr Lydia Marie
said.
And with the convent’s
renovations nearly complete, the Sisters are very pleased to resume a former
apostolate they had begun while in residence at St Joseph’s Riverwood.
“Mary’s Roses” which
began on the feast of St Rose of Lima just after World Youth Day in 2008, is a monthly catechesis and
craft afternoon for 6–14 year old girls.
It started with two
girls baking cookies in the kitchen with Sr Regina Marie RSM but by February,
six months later, there were 20 children coming along.
On one occasion, Sr. Maria Lin guided
them in making a book of their favourite prayers and pictures.
Now, with the
floorboards polished and roses blooming in the Camperdown garden, the Religious
Sisters of Mercy are set to resume “Mary’s Roses” on October 24.
For more information, contact the
Religious Sisters of Mercy at srmoira@msn.com.