Mary MacKillop: Inspiring Woman

Mary MacKillop was born in in 1842. What we really like about her is that she was an ordinary person who did some extraordinary things. At times it was very difficult for her, but she never gave up. Mary started the Sisters of St Joseph, who worked to educate the children of Australia, no matter where they lived or if they were poor. All of us can continue her story today.

Mary helped her family by going to work. When she was 14 she gave her mother her wages so her family could have something to eat and somewhere to live. she never gave up even when she was excommunicated from the Church. she believed that God would always help her so she could keep going.

A lot of the things that happened to Mary, and what she did have a message for us, the people of Australia and the world today. for example, when bad things are happening, like when people are poor, we need to help them. We could raise money for the St Vincent de Paul or Caritas, and we could look out for the lonely people in the playground. We can continue Mary’s work.

Having hope is also an important part of Mary’s life. We need hope and the world needs hope. Without hope, no one would care about anything any more, or nothing would get done: nothing would change. If things don’t go the way we planned, we also need the hope and action to change it.

Mary MacKillop welcomed everyone at her schools. She didn’t care how they looked or how they were, she cared about the person’s dignity – what was on the inside. How can we also care for everyone’s human dignity? We can respect people for what they are, and not worry about what they wear. We can treat everyone fairly, no matter what colour their skin is, or what family they come from. We can use nice words when we talk to people.

In 1909, Mary MacKillop died. We can make this inspiring woman, Australia’s first live forever by our words and actions. In the words of Mary MacKillop, let us … “Never see a need without doing something about it”! by Laura Wernert and her Year 6 friends from St Francis of the Fields’ Primary School, Strathfieldsaye,