Sr Mary Rose Reeves OCD with Migrant Jubilee Cross. Image supplied by Australian Catholic Migrant and Refugee Office

The Carmelite Sisters Goonellabah recently hosted the Migrant Jubilee Cross. The Pilgrimage of the Migrant Jubilee Cross 2025-2026 is an initiative of the Australian Catholic Migrant and Refugee Office to acknowledge and celebrate the faith, gifts, contributions, and resilience that migrant communities bring to our Church and the world.

The Cross, made of Australian timber and set upon a boat-shaped base, will travel throughout Australia over the next year. Leaving Canberra on Sunday 5 October 2025, the Cross has travelled to parishes throughout Sydney and regional NSW.

The Cross is a symbol of God’s love for all and speaks to the heart of the migrant experience. Covered in the constellation of the Southern Cross, a symbol that has guided travellers, the Cross also contains two relics – one of the Holy Family and one of St Mary of the Cross MacKillop.

It arrived at the Monastery of the Carmelite Sisters Goonellabah on Tuesday 25 November.

The Sisters held two Masses and a Holy Hour to mark the occasion.

“It was wonderful to host the Cross and welcome people to our Monastery” observed Sr Maria, Prioress of the Sisters. “As part of our Holy Hour, we prayed a multilingual Rosary in which the first half of each Hail Mary was said in either Visayan, German, Spanish, Vietnamese or French, and the second part was prayed in English. It was a very moving experience”. The Sisters gifted Rosary beads to all who visited.

People were also free to drop into the church at any time to spend time in quiet prayer before the Cross.

The Cross left the Monastery last Thursday and made its way to St Mary’s Church, Casino from where it will begin to travel throughout the Armidale Diocese.