Sisters in Australia

The Sisters of Our Lady of Sion are a small group in Australia and they continue to be actively involved in a variety of ministries which give expression to Sion’s charism.

One Sisters serves the Jewish Community of Australia in overseeing the Jewish Archives of Australia, and in serving as Executive Secretary for the NSW Council of Christians and Jews and the Australian Council of Christians and Jews.

At the arrival of the Sisters in Australia in 1890 Bishop Corbett told the parishioners that the Sisters were real educators and not merely teachers and that they had come to help them educate their daughters. In this spirit of education a group of Sisters are engaged in working with the Leadership of our three heritage High schools so that the Sion charism is given full expression in the life of these Colleges.

A Sister who is involved in teaching very young children who are finding it difficult to learn to read also takes care to assist in many ways to stand with the Australian indigenous people. This concern for the indigenous people is something we share with the Jewish people here in Australia. The Jewish people share with the indigenous people a very close bond with the land.

Our endeavours to share both the story of Sion and the charism have led some to write and publish literature on: Jewish feasts, Sion’s contribution to education in a particular diocese, Louise Humann etc. These publications are invaluable for educators.

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The Bible is the focus for us in many ways and several Sisters are involved in Bible study groups and we have a Sister who teaches Bible at a Theological College. The Bible is our daily companion for prayer and study and this nourishment sends us into both the ordinariness of life and engages us in prayer for our world and our neighbours.

Recently we have welcomed some newer Sisters from Brazil and Central America to Australia to learn English and we see this as a continuation of our earlier accompaniment of newer Sisters in the Philippines.

It can be said that we are very involved in ensuring that the Charism of Notre Dame de Sion is alive and active even though we are aging and small in number.