20 June 2022 · 2022-06 newsletter
On 24 May we farewelled Nancy Green, a very loyal member of the Schoenstatt Women’s League. Nancy was a member of the very first group of Schoenstatt single women in Australia. She died on 6 May after suffering from cancer for a couple of years.
Nancy first came to know Schoenstatt when she met the Schoenstatt Sisters of Mary in Wandering Mission, south of Perth WA. In the mid-1960s Nancy heard about a request of the Pallottine Fathers for lay missionaries at Wandering Mission. She travelled together with a friend to the Mission and worked there for one year. Her main task was in the kitchen working with one of the Schoenstatt Sisters. During this year she came to appreciate the Sisters and their work and so after Nancy returned to Sydney she kept in contact with the Sisters. In December 1968 she joined the first group of the Schoenstatt Single Women’s League in Australia.
Over a few decades Nancy was a very loyal member of the Women’s League, participating in meetings, retreats and very often making herself available to selflessly serve fundraising efforts of the Schoenstatt Movement. Nancy was often seen helping in the kitchen at Mount Schoenstatt with Sr. Mary who had been the superior in Wandering while Nancy was there. Nancy loved Mount Schoenstatt as a second home.
On 20th October 1974 when the Schoenstatt Movement in Sydney crowned the picture of the Mother Thrice Admirable in the foyer of the Joseph Kentenich Retreat House at Mount Schoenstatt, the gift of the Single Women’s League was to have been the silver plates for the inside of the Tabernacle in the shrine. As the silver plates were not ready for the crowning, a ciborium cover was made and embroidered by Nancy. This ciborium cover symbolised the striving and the crowning gift of the Women’s League.
In presenting the Ciborium cover, the Women’s League members prayed:
“Dear Mother Thrice Admirable, Queen and Victress of Schoenstatt, we the Women’s League present this gift in homage to you. May it be a symbol of our striving to become Living Tabernacles, bringing Christ to the world.”
This ciborium cover is still used today and was placed on Nancy’s coffin as an expression of gratitude for all she had done in the service of Schoenstatt, and in particular for the Schoenstatt Women’s League.
Shirley Hall and Ivana Derek were able to represent the Schoenstatt Women’s League at the funeral Mass, bringing up the Offertory gifts. Other Schoenstatt members did the readings and placed the ciborium cover on the coffin.
Nancy can be seen in this photo together with members of the Women’s League on 12 August 1995 at a Covenant of Love celebration.
Some years ago when Nancy was no longer able to travel to the Shrine, she became an active member of the Catholic Women’s League in her parish and served their mission as loyally as she had in Schoenstatt. Both communities will sadly miss her and her generosity, good works, faithful friendship, love and loyalty, acceptance, balance and gratefulness.
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