On the last weekend of October, nine RNDMs from Melbourne travelled to the small Victorian country town of Charlton where four RNDMs arrived one hundred years ago to assume responsibility for the Catholic school. The school had previously been run by a succession of young, single women in response to Australian laws of non-employment of married women.
We celebrated Eucharist and the Ladies of the Parish invited us to a sit-down meal. Our two young Vietnamese Students were present with us – their first experience of Australian countryside with its vast spaces and scattered farms.
During the weekend I was mindful of the earlier celebrations this year of our Sisters first arrival in Phat Diem – what a very different reality occurring in the same year. As we visited the lone grave of Sr. M. Holy Obedience, a New Zealander, who died two years after the foundation of Charlton, I remembered my visit to the lone grave of Sr Marie Euchariste in Phat Diem.
At the table, although we did not know each other personally, we easily shared memories joined together by our collective experience of Catholic faith and memory of individual Sisters who had taught us or lived with us. This led me to ponder on the value of collective memory which at its core is a form of memory that is shared by a group and of central importance to the social identity of the group’s members.
This was certainly my experience when I recently met with the Novices and Postulants in Kenya and the Pre- Postulants in India Centre for a session on Intergenerational Sharing. I was aware that much of my lived experience had been through the practical experience of intergenerational community living.
Those of us who can remember Vatican II have such a wealth of lived experience of a Church struggling to find its meaning in an ever-changing multi-cultural, religiously diverse world. The recent death of Gustavo Guttierez was a reminder of the impact of Liberation Theology in our redefining of our missionary identity. It is easy to feel overwhelmed as we watch our daily news but if we can look afresh at the positive changes which we have experienced in redefining Mission we can treasure our past and shape our future as Women of Hope.
Mary McInerney has been an Australian RNDM for more than sixty years with experience of mission in education in Australia, member of General Council for twelve years and mission in Kenya. Now living in Melbourne, she is involved in archival work for the Province and has enjoyed opportunities to share her RNDM experience and knowledge of our Constitutions through various on-line programmes.
Welcome Sr. Mary, I really look forward to reading your posts! =)
Thank you Rebecca. I love your choice of images
Thank you for sharing some of your “centennial memories”, grounded in an Australian context, and the parallel linkages with the Vietnamese RNDM centennial.
I have been thinking further on your insight: “the value of collective memory which at its core is a form of memory that is shared by a group …” How often we RNDMs return to some of our collective stories – some magic, some tragic, some “character forming”. Stories passed from one generation to the next – creating such a rich tapestry.