Post by Chips on Jan 3, 2009 5:00:08 GMT 9.5
Holy vision greeted return of Mary MacKillop's nuns
Damien Murphy
January 3, 2009
Devout … Mr Renfrey, 93, is a 70-year veteran of the Knights of the Southern Cross.
Photo: Kate Geraghty
RELIGIOUS visions are twin-edged things capable of provoking awe in believers and sarcasm in cynics, but the day the nuns finally returned to the small South Australian town where Mary MacKillop founded her order, Nat Renfrey swears he saw a crucifix form in the sky above the train carrying them home.
It was late January 1936, and Mr Renfrey was playing tennis at the local courts at Penola, in the state's south-eastern corner, when he heard the sound of the train braking as it approached the town's railway station.
"I was chasing a ball across the road towards the train tracks when I heard the train and looked up to see an intense light that grew larger and larger until it was plain to all of us that it was a cross," Mr Renfrey said.
"We knew the nuns were on the train, but I wasn't seeing things. There were four of us there that day - my sister, two mates and myself - and we all saw the cross in the sky - and one of my mates was an atheist."
Mr Renfrey, 93, a devout Catholic and 70-year veteran of the Knights of the Southern Cross (the Catholic organisation founded in 1919 to help fellow Catholics obtain work and support families in living their faith), has lived in Penola all his life. And Mary MacKillop has been an almost visceral presence in the town all those years.
Fifty years before Mr Renfrey's birth, Mary MacKillop, then a governess in Penola looking after her uncle's children, took the religious name Sister Mary of the Cross and, with a local priest, founded the Sisters of Saint Joseph of the Sacred Heart. They became known as the Brown Josephites, or more colloquially the Joeys. She also established the first Saint Joseph's School, in a disused stable.
Sister Mary MacKillop
Within four years, the nuns pulled out after Mary MacKillop was excommunicated and the order disbanded by the bishop in Adelaide, Lawrence Bonaventure Shiel, who thought her insubordinate.
Near death, the bishop reneged and allowed the Josephites to continue their work. In the years ahead they spread across Australia, but in Penola the nuns came and went until they permanently quit the town in 1889.
Penola sits smack dab in the middle of Australia's most sought after vineyard soil, terra rossa, and although wine pervades daily life, so does Mary MacKillop.
The nuns' return in 1936 was part of a realisation by the church leadership of Mary MacKillop's special place in Australian Catholic history and even during his primary school days (at a government school) Mr Renfrey was aware that the head of order and the archbishop of Sydney, Michael Kelly, had started the process to have the town's local heroine declared a saint.
Eighty-three years later, Penola is still waiting.
She was beatified in 1995 and last July during his World Youth Day visit Pope Benedict XVI told nuns after he prayed at her tomb at North Sydney's Mary MacKillop Chapel that their founder would be canonised when one more miracle had been proved.
The Jesuit priest who is postulating her sainthood, Father Paul Gardiner, found one miracle to support his cause and authorities in Rome are reportedly considering another possibility that he uncovered.
Years ago, Mr Renfrey told Fr Gardner about the cross in the sky to help his investigations. "I don't think it was a miracle. But it was a phenomenon," he said.
Mary McKillop
A rebel and a saint
Convicts didn't seem particularly impressed with the champions of Christianity. When Governor King ordered that they attend Church on Sundays, they responded by burning the Church to the ground. Similarly, many Convicts had tattooed onto their backs images of crucifixes or angels holding cups of blood. This gave the impression that when they were being flogged, Christ himself was being flogged.
The Convicts were obviously good judges of character as the champions of Christianity had acted in a manner that ran contrary to Christianity's message. However not all Christian missionaries were bad people. One shining light was Mary McKillop. Like Jesus himself, Mary was a troublemaker. She worked tirelessly for the poor, was excommunicated from the Church, and later was ordered to leave her diocese for promoting controversial views. However if a god exists, it seems he was pleased with Mary as in 1994, Mary became the first Australian to be beatified and seems destined to be canonised.
Mary McKillop was born in Melbourne in 1842. Her father had always struggled in jobs or as a farmer so the McKillops were poor, often living without a home and relying on other wealthier members of the family to survive.
Mary left home to work when she was fourteen and gave all the money she earned to her family. In 1861 she went to work in Penola, a small town in South Australia. Here Mary met Father Julian Woods. Mary felt a religious calling, but hadn't been able to find an order that suited her. Consequently, in 1866, she and Father Woods started their own; 'The Sisters of St. Joseph'. The Order was dedicated to the education of poor children. The order spread to Adelaide and other parts of South Australia, and membership grew rapidly. The sisters followed farmers, miners, railway workers to isolated outback regions. Whatever hardships that they suffered, the sisters would suffer with them.
As well as being extremely compassionate, Mary was strong willed. She stood up for what she believed, which brought her into conflict with religious leaders. She took a vow of poverty, which meant she had to beg for money. She believed that god would provide for the sisters wherever they went. Catholic Church leaders didn't like begging, but Mary refused to change her ways. The tension escalated into conflict over educational matters and as a result Mary was excommunicated by Bishop Shiel for insubordination in 1871. Shiel accused of her of encouraging disobedience and defiance in her schools. He also complained that her students sang excessively. The excommunication placed on her was lifted 6 months later, and on his death bed, Shiel admitted he had done the wrong thing.
In 1883, Mary came into conflict with the Roman Catholic Church establishment by insisting on an equalitarian rather than hierarchical organization. Bishop Reynolds told her to leave his diocese and Mary transferred the headquarters of the Josephites in Sydney and died in Sydney on 8 August, 1909.
Mary never became bitter against the Church leaders that had opposed her. This forgiving attitude was complemented by the outstanding work of the congregation. Protestants, as well as Catholics, loudly praised her charity to the poor, her personal poverty, and her abstinence from proselytising.
In 1973, Mother Mary became the first Australian to be formally proposed to Rome as a candidate for canonization and she was beatified by Pope John Paul II at St Francis' Church on 27th November, 1994.
*Although beatified, she is not a Saint. To become a Saint, the Vatican must see evidence of a second miracle. Currently, evidence of a second miracle is under consideration by the Vatican.
Damien Murphy
January 3, 2009
Devout … Mr Renfrey, 93, is a 70-year veteran of the Knights of the Southern Cross.
Photo: Kate Geraghty
RELIGIOUS visions are twin-edged things capable of provoking awe in believers and sarcasm in cynics, but the day the nuns finally returned to the small South Australian town where Mary MacKillop founded her order, Nat Renfrey swears he saw a crucifix form in the sky above the train carrying them home.
It was late January 1936, and Mr Renfrey was playing tennis at the local courts at Penola, in the state's south-eastern corner, when he heard the sound of the train braking as it approached the town's railway station.
"I was chasing a ball across the road towards the train tracks when I heard the train and looked up to see an intense light that grew larger and larger until it was plain to all of us that it was a cross," Mr Renfrey said.
"We knew the nuns were on the train, but I wasn't seeing things. There were four of us there that day - my sister, two mates and myself - and we all saw the cross in the sky - and one of my mates was an atheist."
Mr Renfrey, 93, a devout Catholic and 70-year veteran of the Knights of the Southern Cross (the Catholic organisation founded in 1919 to help fellow Catholics obtain work and support families in living their faith), has lived in Penola all his life. And Mary MacKillop has been an almost visceral presence in the town all those years.
Fifty years before Mr Renfrey's birth, Mary MacKillop, then a governess in Penola looking after her uncle's children, took the religious name Sister Mary of the Cross and, with a local priest, founded the Sisters of Saint Joseph of the Sacred Heart. They became known as the Brown Josephites, or more colloquially the Joeys. She also established the first Saint Joseph's School, in a disused stable.
Sister Mary MacKillop
Within four years, the nuns pulled out after Mary MacKillop was excommunicated and the order disbanded by the bishop in Adelaide, Lawrence Bonaventure Shiel, who thought her insubordinate.
Near death, the bishop reneged and allowed the Josephites to continue their work. In the years ahead they spread across Australia, but in Penola the nuns came and went until they permanently quit the town in 1889.
Penola sits smack dab in the middle of Australia's most sought after vineyard soil, terra rossa, and although wine pervades daily life, so does Mary MacKillop.
The nuns' return in 1936 was part of a realisation by the church leadership of Mary MacKillop's special place in Australian Catholic history and even during his primary school days (at a government school) Mr Renfrey was aware that the head of order and the archbishop of Sydney, Michael Kelly, had started the process to have the town's local heroine declared a saint.
Eighty-three years later, Penola is still waiting.
She was beatified in 1995 and last July during his World Youth Day visit Pope Benedict XVI told nuns after he prayed at her tomb at North Sydney's Mary MacKillop Chapel that their founder would be canonised when one more miracle had been proved.
The Jesuit priest who is postulating her sainthood, Father Paul Gardiner, found one miracle to support his cause and authorities in Rome are reportedly considering another possibility that he uncovered.
Years ago, Mr Renfrey told Fr Gardner about the cross in the sky to help his investigations. "I don't think it was a miracle. But it was a phenomenon," he said.
Mary McKillop
A rebel and a saint
Convicts didn't seem particularly impressed with the champions of Christianity. When Governor King ordered that they attend Church on Sundays, they responded by burning the Church to the ground. Similarly, many Convicts had tattooed onto their backs images of crucifixes or angels holding cups of blood. This gave the impression that when they were being flogged, Christ himself was being flogged.
The Convicts were obviously good judges of character as the champions of Christianity had acted in a manner that ran contrary to Christianity's message. However not all Christian missionaries were bad people. One shining light was Mary McKillop. Like Jesus himself, Mary was a troublemaker. She worked tirelessly for the poor, was excommunicated from the Church, and later was ordered to leave her diocese for promoting controversial views. However if a god exists, it seems he was pleased with Mary as in 1994, Mary became the first Australian to be beatified and seems destined to be canonised.
Mary McKillop was born in Melbourne in 1842. Her father had always struggled in jobs or as a farmer so the McKillops were poor, often living without a home and relying on other wealthier members of the family to survive.
Mary left home to work when she was fourteen and gave all the money she earned to her family. In 1861 she went to work in Penola, a small town in South Australia. Here Mary met Father Julian Woods. Mary felt a religious calling, but hadn't been able to find an order that suited her. Consequently, in 1866, she and Father Woods started their own; 'The Sisters of St. Joseph'. The Order was dedicated to the education of poor children. The order spread to Adelaide and other parts of South Australia, and membership grew rapidly. The sisters followed farmers, miners, railway workers to isolated outback regions. Whatever hardships that they suffered, the sisters would suffer with them.
As well as being extremely compassionate, Mary was strong willed. She stood up for what she believed, which brought her into conflict with religious leaders. She took a vow of poverty, which meant she had to beg for money. She believed that god would provide for the sisters wherever they went. Catholic Church leaders didn't like begging, but Mary refused to change her ways. The tension escalated into conflict over educational matters and as a result Mary was excommunicated by Bishop Shiel for insubordination in 1871. Shiel accused of her of encouraging disobedience and defiance in her schools. He also complained that her students sang excessively. The excommunication placed on her was lifted 6 months later, and on his death bed, Shiel admitted he had done the wrong thing.
In 1883, Mary came into conflict with the Roman Catholic Church establishment by insisting on an equalitarian rather than hierarchical organization. Bishop Reynolds told her to leave his diocese and Mary transferred the headquarters of the Josephites in Sydney and died in Sydney on 8 August, 1909.
Mary never became bitter against the Church leaders that had opposed her. This forgiving attitude was complemented by the outstanding work of the congregation. Protestants, as well as Catholics, loudly praised her charity to the poor, her personal poverty, and her abstinence from proselytising.
In 1973, Mother Mary became the first Australian to be formally proposed to Rome as a candidate for canonization and she was beatified by Pope John Paul II at St Francis' Church on 27th November, 1994.
*Although beatified, she is not a Saint. To become a Saint, the Vatican must see evidence of a second miracle. Currently, evidence of a second miracle is under consideration by the Vatican.