Synodality

Thank you for your item on the Diocesan Assembly to be held in June.

It was so good to see that the practice of synodality through shared discernment will be important at this gathering.

I was so very grateful to the opportunity recently offered by the World Union of Catholic Women’s Organisations to take part in a worldwide Zoom presentation on this very process and it was truly amazing.

There were some 400 of us in the first session and we were invited to take part in the synodality practice preparing us for listening to each other. Following this peaceful time we then broke off into our small chat groups and I met with others from the USA, Lebanon and South America.

We listened to each other share our faith and then we began the discerning process. It was literally, awesome! The gift of the Spirit gentling taking our hearts! I had prepared a little in coming to the session but this seem to take flight in the purposeful listening to other, coming together in, our ideas. The Spirit truly at work!

I am only five years old as a Catholic member of the church (but very much more age wise) but it was an incredible unity that took me from the church of my local community to the worldwide Catholic Church, and it was very good!

Thank you for all your work in bringing to us each month The Southern Cross.

Rosemary Austin
Hindmarsh Island

St Finbar’s

I was perusing the April edition of The Southern Cross and noticed the tribute to Sr Rosemary Campbell aka Sr John.

Her many achievements were outlined and mention was made of her teaching children in Catholic schools opening up to the waves of post war migration.

She was on the foundation staff of St Augustine’s at Salisbury and later, in about 1961, a two room ‘satellite’ school, St Finbar’s, was established at Salisbury North.

I was there in St Finbar’s first year and Sr John was my class teacher in Grade 3.

Surviving that year may have been one her greatest achievements. It was a composite class of Grades 3, 4 and 5 and there were 82 kids in that classroom, and one nun! Wow, what a year.

I’ve always remembered Sr John.

Christopher Quirk
West Lakes Shore