Opening Mass

Today we celebrated our Opening Mass for 2025.  This was a special Mass in which we gave thanks as this year we celebrate 135 years since Mercy was established.  We were blessed to be joined at the Mass by Sister Jenni Ryan, Head of the North Sydney Mercies and former teacher at OLOD, and Sr Loretto Conroy and Sister Anna , both former teachers at Mercy and former Heads of the North Sydney Mercies.  I am grateful to Father David Ranson, Parish Priest at Our Lady of Dolours Chatswood and Vicar General, for the most thoughtful and provocative homily that he delivered on this special occasion. In it, he reminds us of the 1890’s context in which the fledgling Mercy Chatswood was established and commends the work of the brave and pioneering Sisters of Mercy to whom we owe our thanks for the legacy they have left. I share his homily below:

1890, one hundred and thirty-five years ago, Mercy College was established. Australia was still a collection of British colonies, not yet federated; the Australasian Federal Convention which laid the groundwork for Federation only first met in this year. It was a moment of possibility and opportunity. Yet, it was also a year of great social unrest. In the late 19th century, there had been rapid economic growth, driven by industries like wool, mining and shipping. However, the growth was uneven, and workers often faced poor wages, long hours and harsh conditions. In August 1890, the now famous national Maritime strike began, paralysing the ports of Sydney. A state of emergency was declared, and troops were needed to guard the docks. By November, it was over, ultimately a defeat for the workers. Notwithstanding, the Maritime Strike of 1890 is often seen as a watershed moment in Australian labour history. It marked the beginning of a more organised and politically active labour movement, which would go on to shape Australia’s social and economic policies in the 20th century. It underscored the importance of solidarity and the need for political representation to achieve lasting change. Indeed, one the most significant outcomes of the strike was the formation of the Australian Labour Party.

In the midst of this, in 1890, women were beginning to emerge from traditional roles and entering the work force – though most often in factories, as domestic servants, or in the garment industry. These jobs, themselves, – as with the Maritime workers – were often poorly paid and involved long hours in harsh conditions. The professions of teaching and nursing were still emerging and often undervalued. The University of Sydney only admitted women in 1881. But through the 1890s women began organising and campaigning for the right to vote and stand for parliament. Through the leadership of people such as Louisa Lawson (the mother of Henry Lawson) and Rose Scott, women’s suffrage groups began to meet and publish, albeit not without opposition. And so, the first decade of Mercy College’s establishment was a time of both struggle and progress for women – nonetheless, laying the foundations for women’s suffrage on a federal level in 1902, and the expansion of women’s rights in education, employment, and public life throughout the first half of the 20th century.

The women who established Mercy College in 1890 were part of this broader social aspiration to ensure educational opportunities for women and, therefore, to enable them to become equal and active participants in social and political life. We can take for granted all the possibilities that are open to us now. However, in 1890 those opportunities were still largely aspirations. They were neither a reality nor were they guaranteed. The establishment of a school for girls was pioneering – with all the risk and uncertainty involved in pioneering. Both the women who established the school and the girls who were their students were not given the certainty that their education would be effective or accepted. Nonetheless, knowing that education is central to the future, they pressed on even in the shadows of the time, and we are here today, 135 years later.

Education today – our education – is seen as a right. In 1890, it was not. Today it is not possible for us to imagine that women would be denied education. In 1890, many were

denied it. The point I wish to make here is that we are here today, 135 years later, because there were sufficient women who did not accept the status quo, and who, with conviction and passion, worked against the prevailing social and political currents of their time to make a difference. They were not passive. They were not compliant. They would not accept the narrative in which they were immersed. They wanted to tell a different story, and they worked hard to have that different story told.

To celebrate an anniversary of 135 years is, therefore, to wonder at the courage of those women, the strength of their convictions, and the creativity of their strategies. It is to make their conviction, courage, and creativity our own.

As Australia stood on the cusp of something new in 1890 and not without a great deal of social and political turmoil, we stand, ourselves, today on the cusp of a new world order. New ideologies are rapidly emerging; international alliances of the last 80 years are crumbling. Public discourse has disintegrated to the grotesque Leadership has dissolved into crass displays of bullying, supported by breathtaking acquiescence of otherwise intelligent people; social conscience is abandoned for personal interest. The distinction between lies and truth, fact and fiction, has been intentionally evaporated for the base agendas. These are dangerous times; difficult times; uncertain times.

This is why the memory of those women who started Mercy College 135 years ago is so critically important, and why this anniversary is as significant. Like those women, we must read the times. Like them, we must nurture in our hearts what is true, what is good, what is beautiful. Like them we must stand against what is not good, what is not true, what is not beautiful. Like them, we must know the difference. And like them, we must act. We must act with creativity and compassion, with the heart of mercy. For such a heart alone can bring hope and light into an increasingly darkening world. Let us never underestimate its power.

In 1946, the people of Germany could declare in the face of all that had been perpetrated in their named “they did not know”. In some years’ time, the people of our own time may only be able to declare “we did not care.” This, it seems, would be a far greater indictment. Inspired by the example of those women 135 years ago who made possible what we now enjoy, may we be neither those who did not know or who did not care. May you be women of conviction and creativity, of courage and compassion, so that there may be something new to share with the women of the future.

Fr David Ranson