Warning (to me): Writing this post could get me into trouble as it may be considered as both a self-fulfilling prophecy and also breaching confidence. I’m no stranger to controversy and I’ve stayed mute long enough.
Mary MacKillop is a name most readers may not have heard of, or if they have they may not know how she is connected to me. Her correct title is now St Mary of the Cross, because 10 years ago she was canonized a saint in the Catholic Church. Australia and New Zealand’s first and only saint.
Mother Mary MacKillop’s mission was to provide education to all the poor, particularly in rural areas, and in 1898 she came to Port Chalmers and opened St Joseph’s School. In the past a school on the site, St Mary’s School, had struggled to operate successfully and had been closed for the previous six months due to not being able to be staffed. She spent enough time at the school to establish the nuns of her religious order, the Sisters of St Joseph, Josephite’s or the brown Joe’s, before visiting the two other established locations in the South – Temuka and Arrowtown. The first principal of St Joseph’s was a saint and I have followed in her footsteps, unfortunately and most likely down the path of being the last principal of the school. She worshipped and taught in our church building – St Mary Star of the Sea Church. I have worshipped and taught in the very same building, albeit minus the choir loft where she taught the upper standards and the addition of the chancel.
Mother Mary died in 1909 in Sydney and is laid to rest in a vault beside the altar in the Josephite convent memorial chapel in Mount Street, North Sydney.
I have made three pilgrimages to her vault and the first was in 2017. I thought I would receive inspiration or some renewed passion to carry on with the mission. Nothing. The second and third trips to her ‘shrine’ were this year and during the first of these two trips again nothing. This surprised me because I was looking for a sign, a message, a reason to fight for the future of the school.
The final visit to St Mary was two weeks ago, in my final week in Sydney, and everything was different for me. I could genuinely feel her presence. I left that church with a clear and concise message from her. She said don’t fight the closure of the school, you don’t need to. Wow.
When Mother Mary MacKillop was in Port Chalmers she wrote numerous letters of inspiration mostly to the religious communities she had established. In one such letter she wrote that Port Chalmers “was a very pretty place one in which St Joseph has plenty of work for his children to do”. For the record I have to agree about the pretty. Remembering that this was 1898 and there was a relatively large and dedicated Catholic community desperate for a Catholic school in Port Chalmers. Over 120 years later times have changed. The last remnants of the religious order left about 40 years ago and all instruction at the school since then has been by lay staff. The parish has not had a resident priest for over 10 years and liturgy has diminished to twice a week if we are fortunate. If St Mary was to write another letter today about Port Chalmers it would probably say “it is still a very pretty place and the children have done the work required of St Joseph. It is time for new work to be done in other places”.
I left the chapel where St Mary is with absolutely no doubt as to what her message was. So why do I speculate that I’m likely to be the last principal of St Joseph’s?
By Easter time the school roll will be seven students and part of the reason for this has been because of either a careless (or careful) release of information by the bishop and other clergy. Exactly a year ago we had a visit by the bishop who informed me of his intention to review all Dunedin Catholic schools, and he wanted to start this by the end of April. He did not argue when I pointed out that the outcome of the review for us was already obvious considering we are the smallest school in the diocese. Unfortunately Covid19 changed everybody’s lives almost immediately after his visit and things have been on the backburner ever since. Then later in the year a visiting priest (who knew more than he should have) took the opportunity to tell some of our parishioners the news of our demise. When a school community is told their school is closing the roll will only shrink. Would you enrol your child? We will close. It will either be in December if not then by the end of next year.
I have struggled with this throughout the past 12 months, and especially regarding the lack of any diocesan pastoral care or interest in me or my staff’s wellbeing. I am now at peace with the process because “the children have done the work required of St Joseph. It is time for new work to be done in other places”.
Thank you St Mary of the Cross for “seeing a need and doing something about it”.
My Fear Share 