Who will speak if you don’t… These were the words that Fr Julian Tenison Woods heard deep in his heart as he rode around the parish of Penola in the mid nineteenth century. In his travels he saw children not been educated, parents with no knowledge of their faith and Indigenous people being treated without human dignity. He used his gifts of journalism, which he had learnt in the family of his youth, to write to the papers about the reality of Indigenous people living in his parish. ‘It is such a common thing to find politicians shaking their heads and saying so wisely that it seems destined for the black races to fade away before the white. Fade away indeed. You stop a white man’s wages and give him nothing to eat, and see if he won’t fade away’. He used his eloquence of speech to draw the attention of the people of Penola to the many children receiving no education. This ignited in the heart of Mary MacKillop a passion to do something about this situation. Time and time again these words – who will speak if you don’t - would have echoed in the hearts of Mary and Julian and in the hearts of their Sisters. And down through the 150 years since 19 March 1866, Josephites have been responding to this challenge. It is fitting that we have among this gathered community, The Governor of NSW His Excellency, General the Honourable David Hurley AC DSC (Ret’d), accompanied by Mrs Linda Hurley, and the former governor of NSW, Dame Marie Bashir, for we know that Governor Daly played a part in Mary’s story and Governor Weld in that of Julian, Bishop Vincent Long, the recently appointed Bishop of Parramatta, his presence reminding us of the friendships and struggles our founders and many of their successors have had with Bishops, and today we are delighted that the Australian Bishops hold their Conferences here at this Sacred Site Ambassador Abel Guterres of Timor Leste, in whose country the mission of Mary MacKillop is well recognised, Mr Trent Zimmerman, Member for North Sydney, reminds us about how Mary knew her civil duties as she urged the Sisters to take up their responsibility to vote in the 1903 elections: ‘It is a duty on us all to vote – and for this all must have their names on the Electoral Rolls. Get some advice from some leading man but keep your voting secret. Vote for who is most friendly to the Church and Religion. Every so called Catholic is not the best man’. We also acknowledge women and men from other Religious Congregations, members of other Faith Traditions, family and relatives of Emanuel Solomon and Robert and Joanna Barr Smith, and all who have supported and known the Sisters of St Joseph over these past 150 years. All these connections have weaved in and out of this Sesquicentenary story. On 19 March this year, when we began our Sesquicentenary celebrations in Penola, we were delighted to have members of the Woods and MacKillop families with us, along with a descendant of Nancy Bruce, a young Aboriginal girl that Mary assisted with her education in Penola. This evening the Sisters of St Joseph ‘look back a little and see what our good God has done for us’ (MM 1889). In Penola 150 years ago a tiny Josephite seed was planted. The seeds from that small planting have been scattered across our world and have taken root in unknown and unfamiliar places. Sir Henry Parkes, whose views on education in Australia differed from those of Mary MacKillop, was reported as saying: ‘The Sisters of St Joseph are like white ants; when once they enter a locality, you cannot even starve them out!’ 1 In the midst of the life of the people the Josephite spirit has flourished as we are continually called to listen to the heartbeat of the world. We are delighted that so many of you have been able to join us, the Sisters of St Joseph, in giving thanks to our gracious God for that watchful care spoken about in tonight’s gospel reading – God knows everything you need. (Mt 6:25-34) This ritual of thanksgiving provides us with the opportunity to express our gratitude for the way in which Mary and Julian and the Sisters have been guided and supported by so many strands of society. Both were people gifted with the capacity to hold the intertwining of the sacred and the secular. They knew how to move freely among the highest classes of society, civil and ecclesiastical, and how to be with people living in abject poverty. They walked graciously as citizens motivated by the love of God. They were not disconnected from the reality of the world of their time. As the Brisbane Courier reported in 1879, when the Sisters were forced to leave Queensland: “We regret extremely to hear that the Sisters of St Joseph are about to withdraw from Brisbane. The children of the working class and those of the entirely destitute have been taken under their care and educated in their schools. No distinction of creed has ever been made, the only passport to the favour of the Sisters of St Joseph being the need of assistance. Catholic or Protestant, Jew or Gentile, have been equally welcomed. The Sisters weaved the Josephite way of responding to the Gospel, ever attentive to the heartache and the wonder, the beauty and the violence, the desolation and the radiance of the context and reality of each emerging decade. The story of the Sisters of St Joseph is one founded in partnership. Fr Julian saw the needs and created the vision. Mary MacKillop had a deep desire to dedicate her life to God and she had the skills and the capacity to answer the needs of the people. On St Joseph’s day 1866, the dream was birthed. Mary MacKillop donned a black dress as a sign of her intention to commit her life to serving God in the care of the little ones of God’s flock. She and Fr Julian were happy on that day and wondered whom God would call to assist them and how God’s way would be made clear. They both had an unwavering trust in the Providence of God and within their hearts they sang the words of tonight’s refrain “you know the ways for me, you know the time, into your hands I lovingly place mine’. (Michael Herry fms) Within a short time, other women joined in the mission as Sisters of St Joseph. Partnership has been an ongoing weave in our Josephite story. This ritual provides us with an opportunity to express our appreciation to all who have been our supporters and benefactors over these long years. I am particularly mindful of the relatives of Emanuel Solomon and Robert and Joanna Barr Smith who have travelled great distances to be with us tonight. It was through the generosity of families like yours that the Sisters were able to respond to the needs of those living at the edge of the society of their time. When difficulties arose God did indeed provide–often from unexpected sources. After the excommunication of Mary MacKillop, Bishop Sheil ordered all the Sisters living at the convent in Franklin Street, Adelaide, to vacate the premises. As they left on that day, they wondered where they would find shelter and support. Who came to the rescue–Emanuel Solomon, the Adelaide Jew who had already demonstrated his support for them and their work by providing them with accommodation in January 1869? As soon as he became aware of their plight he offered them the use of one of his houses in Flinders Street, rent free, for as long as they might need it. He was not the only Jew to support Mary and the Sisters. Mr Goldstein was another. Questioned about her friendship with these Jewish men she simply replied: ‘After all St Joseph was a Jew’. 2 Joanna and Robert Barr Smith were among Mary’s closest friends. Mary and Joanna corresponded for over forty years. Once Robert wrote to Mary MacKillop ‘Amongst all our friends you may be sure we count you one of the truest in the reality of your kind feelings’. What brought them together is not quite clear. What we do know is that Joanna and Robert were Scottish Presbyterians and successful business people who left their mark in South Australia because of their philanthropy and generosity. It seems that the connection may have come through the Josephite community caring for the aged and destitute people of Adelaide. In 1882 the block of land that now comprises the Josephite Sisters’ own private cemetery was virtually a gift from Robert Barr Smith. In 1901, the Barr Smiths paid for the new St Joseph’s Refuge at Fullarton. In 1907 we find Joanna writing to Mary MacKillop:- Oh my dear friend, I wish I could see you again or hear your voice. Living or dying, my beloved friend, I am ever the same to you and am proud to look back on nearly 40 years of unbroken friendship. My husband and I send dearest love’. The final mark of their friendship is the marble slab on Mary’s tomb given by Joanna. And what of Julian’s longstanding friendship with William Archer. They first met in the mid 1860s and each time Julian visited Melbourne he spent time with William and his family. In between they corresponded. One such letter, written from Penola, reflects something of Julian’s wit.