Mary of the Cross MacKillop pray for us #FeastDay #AustralianSaint #ACYF17 #MaryMacKillop #Pilgrimage http://ow.ly/7MIa30e1XM1
Have you completed the Australian Catholic Bishops Youth Survey? By completing the survey, you have the opportunity to win one of THREE ‘Dr Dre Solo 2.0 On-Ear Headphones’ (Details at the end of the survey)
Survey closes 11.59pm, Sunday 2nd of July, 2017.
Our Lady Help of Christians Feast Day 24 May - Patroness of Australia The infant church in Australia had a special reason for turning to Mary. No priests were sent to the colony in its early days and Mass was not allowed except for one brief year until 1820. It was largely the Rosary in those early days that kept the faith alive. Catholic Australia remained faithful to Mary and was the first nation to choose her under the title Help of Christians, as principal Patroness. St Mary's Cathedral was dedicated in her honour by the Irish pioneer priest, Fr John Therry, who arrived in Sydney in 1820 and assumed responsibility for the planning and initial construction of the Cathedral. When Australia became the first country to have Mary Help of Christians as Patroness, it became the first country to have a mother-cathedral under the same title.
On Saturday 8 August, Australia celebrates the Feast Day of St Mary of the Cross MacKillop, our first (and only) canonised Saint! In this year dedicated to Consecrated Life, here is a beautiful reflection on St Mary MacKillop’s sense of her own vocation, and call to live “for God alone”: http://www.xt3.com/library/view.php?id=19443