The realisation of Mary Aikenhead Ministries - the future for the incorporated ministries of the Sisters of Charity in Australia - has taken a giant step forward with permission from Rome for the establishment of this new canonical entity.
After years of preparation, the Congregational Leader Sister Elizabeth Dodds RSC
(pictured) presented the documentation to CICLSAL - the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life - in January this year. Approval of the petition is dated April 25, 2008, and the Sisters learnt of its success on Wednesday, May 21.
Although the formal transfer of authority could be up to 12 months away, the Sisters are delighted by the petition's speedy and smooth acceptance by CICLSAL which ensures the future of more than 50 Sisters of Charity incorporated companies in the health, aged care, education and welfare sectors throughout Australia.
Under Mary Aikenhead Ministries the many ministries that have been established and developed by the Sisters since their arrival in Australia from Ireland in 1838 will be governed by a group of trustees, consisting initially of members of the congregation and lay colleagues. The trustees will ensure that the heritage, tradition and the charism of the Sisters are taken purposefully into the future.
Today's ministries of the Sisters of Charity are varied and spread along the eastern seaboard of Australia. They include St Vincent's hospitals in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Toowoomba; St Vincent's College, Potts Point (NSW), Catholic Ladies College and St Columba's College, Victoria; Mount St Michael's College, Ashgrove (Qld); and in welfare such places as Comely Bank, Healesville (Vic.) and Briar Terrace, Fitzroy (Vic.).
"Our congregation's spirit and our inheritance is the gospel privilege of serving others, especially the poor. Our story is one of innovation, courage and conviction. It is our hope that this will continue," Sr Elizabeth told pathways.
"From our earliest days on Australian soil, Sisters of Charity have served the needs of the time through collaboration with lay colleagues.
"As a congregation, we recognise that the focus of religious life in the 21st century has shifted from running and managing our works to ensuring the prophetic nature of our commitment to Christ as women religious in a new way.
"We are confident that through Mary Aikenhead Ministries the spirit of service will flourish in new and progressive ways, always alive to the spirit of the times."
The establishment of Mary Aikenhead Ministries is the third of three major movements over the past 35 years.
Firstly, the Sisters took the step to incorporate their ministries. This was followed by a thorough examination of other developing forms of governance and finally there was the journey towards the formation of Mary Aikenhead Ministries.
This journey has seen the congregation respond to the call of the Second Vatican Council to share more fully its ministry leadership with colleagues who are not vowed members of the Institute.
Mary Aikenhead Ministries initially will stand along side the PJP that is the Congregation of the Sisters of Charity in Australia. It is thought that within a decade the fledgling PJP will be autonomous.
A PJP is a legal entity under canon (Church) law that allows the ministries to function in the name of the Catholic Church and contains a civil constitution which allows it to operate within the legal and corporate structures within Australia. (Each congregation, by its very nature, is a PJP.)
Because the Sisters of Charity is a Congregation of Pontifical Right, permission to set up this new PJP was sought from the Vatican.
Praised in Rome as "immensely thorough" and "very professional" documentation - which included the history of the congregation, foundational documents with a theological statement and an ethical framework, guiding principles and a leadership framework, legal documents including the canonical statutes and the civil constitution, and a financial section - it was presented to Sr Sharon Holland IHM, an international canonist, by Sr Elizabeth in Rome in January.
The petition then moved through the Congresso so that the Canonical Statutes were approved by decree under Canon 117 by CICLSAL in April. Under the approval, the headquarters of Mary Aikenhead Ministries will be in the Archdiocese of Sydney. Sr Elizabeth and her Council are currently discerning who will be invited to be members of the first group of trustees.
In reflecting on the trust needed to relinquish the responsibility and care for the ministries begun by the Sisters and for so many years served by them, Sr Elizabeth has likened the journey to the gospel episode of Jesus walking on the water.
"This is the time for us to let go, to step out from the boat as Peter did, in Matthew 14, to keep our eyes on Jesus and to hear his voice: Courage ... do not be afraid."
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