July marked 150 years since the Loreto Sisters first set foot in Australia, beginning a legacy of education and social justice, reports Melbourne Catholic.
The first group of 10 nuns faced unfamiliar challenges as they took up their task of establishing Catholic education in a distant colony: resistance from bishops, scarce resources and a society sceptical of women’s leadership.
Mother Gonzaga Barry IBVM. PHOTO: Melbourne Catholic via Loreto Sisters.
Yet within years, they built schools for the poor, trained teachers and advocated for women’s university access.
As the order celebrates this milestone, the Loreto Sisters’ work continues through the impressive alumnae of their schools, their ongoing ministries in prison chaplaincy and refugee support, and their steadfast commitment to First Nations reconciliation.
The anniversary is a reflection of a mission that still answers their 17th-century founder Mary Ward’s call to meet the needs of the times with courage and clarity.
The original 10 women were led by Mother Gonzaga Barry, a woman in her 40s whom Loreto historians say was held in high esteem by the others. The group arrived from Dublin on July 19, 1875, and spent the night in the Good Shepherd Convent in Abbotsford in inner Melbourne before heading to Ballarat.
Three ‘Mary Ward Women’, representing Loreto and Congregatio Jesu at the United Nations. PHOTO: ibvmunngo.org via Melbourne Catholic.
Loreto Sister Jane Kelly, who is writing a biography of Mother Gonzaga, says they continue to honour what they used to call Landing Day, now Heritage Day, because it was the start of some almost revolutionary work.
“[Mother Gonzaga] was given the task of establishing the school in Ballarat, but all along you watch her mind developing. It was like distance from Ireland freed her to think differently about what this particular group in Australia were all about.
“Partly because of distance, she always had to do things differently here because there was no access to those who usually would’ve been her authorities in Ireland. So she thought very broadly about where she was, what Australia seemed to need and how to go about doing it.”
Today, the Loreto sisters continue working with marginalised communities while also, as one sister puts it, “influencing the influential”.
This may be at corporate, state and federal government levels in Australia, or through its international arm, Mary Ward International, at the United Nations.
This article is an abridged form of an article published in Melbourne Catholic, the publication of the Archdiocese of Melbourne.