18 September 2026 · 2026-09 newsletter
Written by Sr. M. Olivia
Following a successful apostolic visit to Adelaide in 2025, the invitation came again to visit in 2026. Once again, it was the priests in Hectorville Catholic Parish, Fr. Jeevan Gabriel, SMM and Fr. Anthony Beltrame, who extended the invitation for Sr M. Elizabeth and I to return and offer the people of Adelaide some spiritual nourishment.
Similarly to last year, the idea was to deliver another retreat day on Saturday, 8 August – the Solemnity of Saint Mary of the Cross MacKillop – but this time on the topic of Everyday Sanctity. From there, two further apostolic possibilities arose, and so a little itinerary was put together for the City of Churches.
It all began on Thursday, 6 August on the Feast of the Transfiguration of the Lord with an evening for women. At 7:00pm, the altar was graced with the presence of the Lord in the Most Blessed Sacrament, where a Holy Half Hour was spent in silence and in prayer. This was a most perfect way to prepare myself for the talk of the night titled, “BEING Woman: A Gift for the World – Challenging the Status Quo on Femininity”.
Around 60 women of all ages were first engaged to describe the perceptions and expectations of women that they have experienced in today’s secular world. “Independent”, “ageless”, and “in control” were but a few answers given before the all-important question was asked: Well, what is the Catholic antidote to all this? The Catholic antidote, of course, is to gaze upon the most blessed among women, Mary, to learn how to be a genuine woman in today’s society. Three virtues in particular were focused on: gratitude, mercy and piety, as key qualities to embody and bring into all areas of our current world. In highlighting these three virtues, one significant moment in Mary’s life was emphasised in all its glory. It was Mary’s Magnificat where Mary, in the spirit of prayer, praised and glorified the greatness of the Lord in gratitude, for the mercy that God had lavished upon her. A very contrasting message, indeed, to how a woman should live in today’s “be it all, have it all” mentality in the world.
The following night, Friday, 7 August brought something different to the program – a vocations night hosted by the Vocations Centre of the Archdiocese of Adelaide. Fr. Olek Stirrat, a long-time acquaintance of mine was recently appointed as the Vocations Director of the Archdiocese and was keen to make the most of my presence in Adelaide despite his own absence being overseas at the time. This didn’t stop him from putting plans in place to host an evening on the topic of vocations, which providentially fell during National Vocations Awareness Week.
The evening’s event, titled, “Beyond the Collar & Veil” began at 6:00pm with dinner at the inner-city Wakefield Hotel just across the road from Adelaide’s St Francis Xavier Cathedral. This was followed by an interview facilitated by a young gentleman named Maddy, himself a member of the Adelaide Vocations Centre and a recent convert to Catholicism. On the panel were me and Fr. Anthony Beltrame. Questions were submitted by the attendees during their registration process for the event, and they came from various angles. “What did you do before becoming a sister and a priest?”, “How did you discern your call?”, “What sacrifices have you had to make?”, “Are you fulfilled in your vocation?”, were just some of the questions that were fired at Fr. Anthony and me throughout the night, before finishing with a fun series of rapid-fire questions that we needed to answer in 7 seconds or less. One of those quick questions was: what would we say to the Pope if we had the chance to meet him? My answer: Would you like to have a game of tennis? It was a very enjoyable night for me, and hopefully an insightful night for the 50-odd people who were in attendance.
The trip to Adelaide culminated on Saturday, 8 August with the Everyday Sanctity retreat day. The day began at 9:00am with Holy Mass celebrated by Fr. Anthony in the beautiful Annunciation Church at Hectorville. This was followed by a move over to the parish hall for the nearly 70 people who had registered for the event. The morning was filled with two talks, both on the topic of striving for holiness in our everyday lives, no matter what state or stage of life one was in. The talks were broken up by morning tea and fellowship, and lunch was served to conclude the morning’s input.
After lunch a panel discussion was led by Amanda, a very good friend of mine who had helped significantly in the practical organisation of the day, together with her husband, Gary. On the panel were me and Sr. M. Elizabeth, Fr. Anthony, and Joanne and Ben Lucas, a married couple with four children. The retreatants were encouraged to write down any questions they had throughout the whole morning of my talks. After lunch, the questions were then collected and read out anonymously by Amanda for any of the panel members to respond to. It was a riveting hour of questions and answers, and hearing different perspectives from the different voices and states in life made for a very interesting session, one that I think was the highlight of the day for many of the people.
The retreat day concluded back in the Church with a Holy Hour of Adoration in front of the Blessed Sacrament. During this time, Sr. M. Elizabeth led everyone in praying the luminous mysteries of the Holy Rosary with reflections inspired by Fr. Kentenich on the theme of the day. Fr. Anthony also made himself available for the Sacrament of Reconciliation throughout this time. The day ended with thank you’ s from both sides, and hopefully many spiritually nourished hearts. Often times you walk away from these sorts of apostolic engagements not knowing how you may have impacted the lives of those you encountered. But a few days following my trip to Adelaide, I received a message from a good friend of mine who attended the retreat day. She is now married with two kids under the age of three, and she had this to say to me:
“I just wanted to again say how much of a blessing it was to attend the retreat on the weekend and what a gift it was for you to be here … Your words were exactly what I needed to hear, and your conviction not only reflected how beautifully you live out your vocation but encouraged and reminded me how much I want to live out mine as zealously as you. I hadn’t had the opportunity to sit in adoration, go to confession or sit in Mass the way I did in so long. I can’t express how much fruit, peace and grace has come from the day. Normally retreats come and go then daily life kicks in and distracts me but the past days have been filled with reflection and encouragement … Everything you spoke about, and the panel discussion really hit home for me. I’ve had some big struggles, and I’ve been blessed with some huge graces, consolations and answered prayers. I think it finally gave me the opportunity to listen to God and know that holiness is found in the mundane and everyday struggles. God really is so good. Thank you so much.”
Even if just one life like this was impacted by our little apostolic venture to Adelaide, I say it was worthwhile. We can be very grateful to God and to Our Lady for continuing to open the door to this beautiful city and giving us the opportunity through the Hectorville Parish to bring our Schoenstatt mission to my hometown.
Deo gratias!
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