Cardinal Pell hints historic canonisation is close as thousands around Australia mark centenary of Blessed Mary MacKillop’s death.
By Anthony Barich
As over 400 people including over 100 nuns gathered at St Benedict’s Church Applecross on August 8 to mark the 100th anniversary of Blessed Mary MacKillop’s death (see separate story, Pages 2-3), Australia’s most senior prelate said in Sydney that her canonisation is “almost completely certain”.
As thousands of laity, priests and Religious gathered around Australia last weekend for the anniversary, Cardinal George Pell told a special Mass at St Mary’s Church, North Sydney on August 8: “It’s almost completely certain she will be become our first publicly recognised Australian saint and we hope Pope Benedict will make the declaration soon.”
The Sydney Mass was also broadcast live to North Sydney oval due to the surge in crowds for the event.
He said that Mary MacKillop, who founded the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart in Penola in 1867, had at times been treated “disgracefully” by the Church but she had not lapsed into “bitterness”, referring to her excommunication in 1871 by Adelaide Bishop Lawrence Sheil as she wanted her order to be governed centrally.
Bishop Sheil revoked the excommunication order on his deathbed.
The first verified miracle attributed to Mary MacKillop’s intercession that led to her 1995 beatification by Pope John Paul II involved the healing of a woman with terminal leukaemia.
A woman in her 60s, whose recovery from lung cancer is being investigated as the second miracle, was among devotees gathered at the North Sydney celebration, but Sister Maria Casey, the Postulator for the Cause of Mary MacKillop, said she would not want to be identified until the canonisation process is complete.
Sister Anne Derwin, head of Josephites, said in a May 11 statement that a Vatican medical board’s conclusion that there was “no scientific explanation” for a cure attributed to the intercession of Blessed Mary MacKillop was a “very encouraging step” in the process of her being recognised as Australia’s first saint by the Catholic Church.
The Josephites believe the canonisation will take place in Rome.
“This community needs its home grown heroes and local models to encourage us in the right direction. We need Blessed Mary as a guide. We know Australians are good but some can be very good,” Cardinal Pell said. The Josephites’ Towards Canonisation Committee has distributed newsletters to parishes, schools, church agencies and other groups across Australia and New Zealand over the past month so that the canonisation can be fully embraced by the Church in these countries once it happens.
Up to 100 Josephites attended a Mass with students from Mary MacKillop College and hundreds of others on August 8 at Adelaide’s St Francis Xavier Cathedral for the anniversary, while several hundred attendeded a Mass at Brisbane’s St Stephen’s Cathedral that day.
On May 6 the Congregation for Divine Worship declared Mary MacKillop patron of the Brisbane Archdiocese.
Melbourne Archbishop Denis Hart also celebrated a special Mass that day at St Patrick’s Cathedral, as Mary MacKillop was born in Brunswick Street, Fitzroy, a short distance from the cathedral.
The Archdiocese of Hobart is running a five-week program from August 3-31 exploring the Blessed’s life and spirituality in Launceston, while Archbishop Adrian Doyle celebrated a Mass at St Mary’s Cathedral on August 8 commemorating the anniversary.
The Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle held a vigil Mass at Sacred Heart Cathedral on August 7.
Bishop Michael Malone said prior to the Mass that Mary MacKillop was “deeply Australian, and at this time with so many struggling with various difficulties, Mary’s voice is a voice saying that there is a lot of good in the world. We need to tap into that and not be discouraged”.
He said that the growing number of followers of Mary MacKillop’s way around the world is evidence that her message is still valid, with increasing devotion to her in Scotland and Peru.
“I hold high hopes for her imminent canonisation,” he said.