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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2010-10-14 Daily Xml
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MARY MACKILLOP

The Hon. M.D. RANN (Ramsay—Premier, Minister for Economic Development, Minister for Social Inclusion, Minister for the Arts, Minister for Sustainability and Climate Change) (14:16): I seek leave to make another ministerial statement about the events celebrating the canonisation of Mother Mary MacKillop.

Leave granted.

The Hon. M.D. RANN: I am sure that many members of parliament on both sides of this house will take the opportunity this weekend and, indeed, in subsequent weeks, to take part in events, services and ceremonies that commemorate Mary MacKillop's life, work, legacy and inspiration here in South Australia. I will be going to Penola at the weekend–and I am sure I will be welcomed by the local member of parliament—and will also be renaming the Mary MacKillop Bridge on Sunday.

Mary MacKillop's was a life of struggle and passion that was underpinned by integrity. She embraced and commanded the virtues of all significant men and women who inspire faith in their followers and who believe in self-sacrifice and commit themselves to the underprivileged, the vulnerable and the voiceless. Mary MacKillop was a rebel who refused to compromise her principles. She fought for right time and time again. She opposed the moral fixity of the Victorian era, the unforgiving harshness and small-mindedness of those who sought to diminish her contribution and the inflexible power of the church's conservative hierarchy.

Mary MacKillop was a survivor, a pragmatist, a fighter; a deeply-driven woman whose motivation was her work—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. M.D. RANN: —and whose nourishment was her faith. Like history's most towering figures, Mary MacKillop also bore flaws that reassure us that she was, after all, human. In the course of her life's work, she made foes, she alienated friends and she even divided church communities. She endured the harshest of punishments—excommunication from the church to which she had devoted her life.

On occasions, her single-mindedness was interpreted as stubborn pride. Her naivety in matters financial and political threatened, at various times, to undermine her life's quest. Her unwillingness to accept leadership alternatives meant she, again and again, would drain her physical and mental resources to keep her dream alive. But hers was not a dream of self-aggrandisement, personal wealth or earthly power. Her mission was to give comfort and solace to the poor, education to the disenfranchised and hope to society's forgotten underclass.

In the streets and Parks of Adelaide, Norwood and Port Adelaide, in the inner-city tenements of Sydney and Brisbane, and in the rural communities of South Australia's Mid North and our South-East, which, of course, is where her life's work began and which will be the special focus of this weekend's celebrations. I look forward to being in Penola on Sunday and to joining with the local community and Mary MacKillop's supporters, followers and pilgrims to commemorate this most historic day.

Among the celebrations will be a procession retracing her footsteps from the site of her original school set up in a disused stable, past the historic Woods MacKillop stone schoolhouse, to the site of the outdoor mass. This will be conducted by Emeritus Archbishop Leonard Faulkner, along with Father Richard Morris and Father Peter Fountain. Here in Adelaide, the celebrations will centre on Sunday's procession from the Josephite Convent and Mary MacKillop College in Kensington to St Francis Xavier's Cathedral.

There in Mary MacKillop Plaza, next to where she oversaw the St Francis Xavier Cathedral School as Sister Mary of the Cross, a concert will celebrate her life and work. Both events will feature a live telecast of the canonisation ceremony from Rome, which will be con-celebrated by His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI and Adelaide's Archbishop Philip Wilson. Masses and celebrations will also take place throughout our state on Sunday, including special events at regional centres, including Port Augusta, Port Pirie, Renmark, Wallaroo and Port Lincoln.

The canonisation of Mary MacKillop will instil great pride in so many South Australians, both followers of the Catholic faith and throughout our wider community. It also provides deserved recognition for countless people who have devoted their time and energies to achieving this recognition of her work, such as the tireless Father Paul Gardiner from St Joseph's Church in Penola. While it has been a lengthy campaign since the 1920s, it has also been—just like the life of Mary MacKillop—a labour of love.

Mary worked relentlessly and travelled tirelessly to support and supervise the operation of the Josephite Order (the Brown Joeys) throughout South Australia, around the nation, in New Zealand and elsewhere. The times when she opposed authority, when she forged her own path, when she battled her own self-doubt, failing health and spiritual despondency, she did so to secure the survival and prosperity of her work. Her one abiding constant in sickness, health, success and personal misery was her unswerving, unshakeable belief in her God and the mission he had given her.

In Mary MacKillop, we see (embodied in shining, heavenly raiment) the pioneering Australian spirit and our nation's unflagging ideals of egalitarianism, social justice, neighbourly kindness, and the triumph of the human spirit over power, prejudice and bigotry. Hers is a life to be celebrated and learned from. This weekend, her contribution will be recognised the world over. Among the countless tributes will be the re-naming of the rail bridge at Port Adelaide, the port where she arrived, by boat, from the South-East in 1867. The Mary MacKillop Bridge will be re-named the St Mary MacKillop Bridge on Sunday.

The procedures required to formalise the name change were gazetted today, having been passed by executive council and by His Excellency the Governor, Rear Admiral Kevin Scarce. The new name will be officially adopted on Sunday. A new plaque will be installed alongside the existing commemorative inscription, which was blessed by His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI during the 2008 World Youth Day celebrations in Sydney. Mary MacKillop's elevation to sainthood will constitute the ultimate validation of her work and will provide inspiration, joy and thankfulness among her disciples and her admirers throughout Australia and around the world.

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