Author Anne Henderson has paid tribute the the Sisters of St Joseph at the recent relaunch of her 1997 book, Mary MacKillop's Sisters: A Life Unveiled.
"It was the Sisters who continued the calling, built the vision, worked for her recognition, and brought us the legacy that Australians are about to celebrate in Mary's canonisation in Rome," said Mrs Henderson, deputy director of The Sydney Institute, at the launch this month.
"They set up institutions for the sick, the orphans and so on. They did what government is doing today, or supposed to be doing. And they did it for nothing more than their keep, and in many cases they did it without their keep."
The book contains her collection of interviews with Sisters of St Joseph from across Australia and New Zealand was republished to coincide with the upcoming canonisation of Mary MacKillop.
Mrs Henderson acknowledged that "the story of Mary MacKillop has been told and re-told; in volumes of history, in plays, comic books, colouring books, on cloth and tea-towels, in film and documentary, and there is even a musical to come".
"It's a story that is linear, chronological; it's a single life of wide experience.
"But no less dramatic are the stories of the many Sisters who worked in her name."
FULL STORY
Author's tribute to Sisters of St Joseph (The Catholic Weekly)
PHOTO CREDIT
Screenshot from www.doubleday.com.au