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Ministries to Indigenous Australians in the time of St Mary MacKillop

Fr Carl Mackander, Parish Priest of St Patrick’s Parish, Wellington is well known for his love of and devotion to St Mary of the Cross MacKillop, founder of the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart. His interest in Australia’s first saint has led to a deep and thorough knowledge of Mary MacKillop’s life work, her family and the impact she had on the lives of those less fortunate.

Fr Carl is a member of the Diocesan Pastoral Council’s ‘Participation of Indigenous Catholics’ working group. In this capacity, Fr Carl presented a paper he authored entitled ‘St Mary of the Cross MacKillop, Fr Julian Tenison Woods, Fr Donald MacKillop SJ, Fr Duncan McNab and their ministries to Aboriginal Australians’. 

The essay gives a detailed insight to the atrocities Indigenous Australians experienced in the 1800s and the constant challenges Mary MacKillop and her colleagues faced to fight for the human rights of our Nation’s first people.

Fr Carl’s essay is avaialble to read HERE