St Joseph's Nudgee College

September 27, 2010

When Mary MacKillop is canonised in Rome next month representatives from St Joseph’s Nudgee College will be there and will be playing an important role.

Acting Principal Mr Graham Leddie, Indigenous Liaison Officer Ms Yvonne O’Neill and two students from the College’s Equity Program will travel to Rome and be involved in the Mass of Thanksgiving at St Peter’s Basilica on October 17 thanks to a cross that was painted by Ms O'Neill.

Ms O’Neill was commissioned to paint the 2.1m tall x 1.4m wide cross by Aboriginal Catholic Ministry, Murri Ministry. The cross will travel to Rome in a specially made Street Swag and will be left at the Vatican following the official canonisation proceedings.

“I’m really overwhelmed they asked me to do the artwork,” said Ms O’Neill.

“I’ve only been painting since 2004 but I suppose the works I have done, like the Christian Brothers’ cross and the cross for Nudgee College and some other significant Catholic pieces, have been seen and liked by a lot of people.”

The cross is made from plantation grown hoop pine sourced from Beerwah on the Sunshine Coast and was constructed by Nudgee College’s Head of Building and Construction Mr Neil Poppleton and some of the College’s Senior Construction students.

“The use of Queensland hoop pine was deliberate as I wanted to use local products,” said Ms O’Neill.

The cross was officially blessed by Father John Gillen during a ceremony at the College recently. The ceremony was attended by representatives of Murri Ministry as well as Queensland Provincial Leader of the Josephites, Sr Moya Campbell and three Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart.

As is customary in Indigenous artwork, the cross contains elements that depict a story. Below is an explanation of the various elements used on the cross.

A vine grows from the base and throughout the cross reminding us to be like Mary in being open to each other and to those most in need.

Mary entered into deep and lasting relationship with the Indigenous people of Australia. Yvonne’s Father’s totem, the goanna, connects the cross to the continuing story of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people of Australia and the call to reconciliation and hope for a peaceful and just future for which Mary dreamed.

Mary cared passionately for her Sisters, family and friends. Her maternal, protective and brave leadership is captured and symbolised by Yvonne’s Mother’s totem the emu.

Mary was a prolific letter writer. Her wisdom, knowledge, honesty and conviction flowed through hands which were sometimes riddled with pain and discomfort. The joy of her words, story and experiences is symbolised by clusters of flowers and colours.

Mary’s story is not finished. She flies free in the spirit of her Sisters and all who are inspired by her example. We are all invited in to God’s great mystery and so parts of the cross remain blank so that our as yet untold story may be shared with the world.

Key moments in Mary’s life are represented by the large circles throughout the cross. Including the cross itself, there are fourteen, the same number as the Stations of the Cross. The first and second circles are Mary’s birth and baptism. This sacrament of baptism marked the beginning of Mary’s call to new life. In Indigenous tradition, water is equally meaningful as the Christian tradition in symbolising the Creator’s love for us, our connection to all living things and the call to be life giving and affirming.

The Josephite Emblem is symbolic of the devotions that were special to Mary. The stylised ‘A’ and ‘M’ remind us of the Hail Mary and the three J’s at the heart of the cross remind us that Mary gave her life to Jesus, Joseph was her special patron to whom she prayed and John the Baptist prepared the way for Jesus as Mary wished her Sisters to do for the children they cared for.

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