The Iona Presentation Foundation in Western Australia is hosting its first public fundraising event to commemorate the 250-year legacy of the Presentation Sisters while looking ahead to the future of Presentation education, reports The Record.
Titled “Light the Way”, the event will be held at Royal Freshwater Bay Yacht Club on Thursday 19 November.
The fundraiser gains its title from the witness of the founder of the Presentation Sisters, Venerable Nano Nagle, who carried a lantern through the alleys of Cork, Ireland as she founded secret schools (hedge schools) for Catholic children banned from education by the British government.
The Presentation Sisters of WA. PHOTO: The Record/supplied
Nagle was often seen ministering to the sick and poor of Cork with lantern in hand after a long day of teaching children, thereby being a “light” to those stuck on the edges of society.
Nagle’s ministry is being upheld by the newly formed Iona Presentation Foundation, which works closely with Iona Presentation College, the Western Australian Presentation Sisters and other Presentation schools.
As a not-for-profit organisation, the Iona Presentation Foundation will fund bursaries and scholarships so that disadvantaged students can attend Presentation schools.
Ten of the 19 Presentation schools in WA are currently being supported by the Foundation.
The newly formed Foundation marks a creative shift for the sake of maintaining the future of the mission of the Presentation Sisters who, like so many other religious orders, are seeing a downturn in vocations.
The fundraiser will include an introductory address from Australian cricketer Justin Langer, whose children attended Iona College, along with a main reflection from a Presentation Sister.
This article was published in The Record, the publication of the Archdiocese of Perth.