New focus for an emerging future

On 6 August 2022, the Tasmanian Presentation Congregation welcomed the appointment by the ‘Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life’ of Sr Maria Lazzaro pbvm (Melbourne Congregation), our Pontifical Commissary, and Sr Nola Vanderfeen pbvm (Melbourne Congregation) and Anna Fewer pbvm (Western Australian Congregation), as her two Consultors. It seems fitting that this significant moment, which signalled the change in canonical governance of the Tasmanian Sisters, was ritualised in St John’s Church Richmond – where our story in Australia began. On 31 October 1866, our founding sisters (four professed sisters and five postulants), arrived in Hobart. As their convent was not yet ready, they established their ministry for the following 14 months in the township of Richmond on the East Coast of Tasmania. Our first meeting with the ‘Emerging Futures Collaborative Ltd’ (EFCL) in Sydney was held on 25 March 2020. It’s been an amazing journey: in some respects, not unlike a very long Retreat of nearly two and a half years during which time we reflected on all aspects of our lived religious and community life up to that point in time – and more importantly, detailing how we wished to continue to live this life until our Congregation has reached completion. As a result, we have been able to shape our major documentation around the essential and rich aspects of our community life: our Spiritual Patrimony, Congregational Will and Distribution Plan, Governance and Service Model – and all achieved by electronic means during a pandemic. Words can never express our gratitude and awe towards the EFCL Team and what they have enabled us to do. The name ‘Emerging Futures’ is apt when we look back and consider where we began and where we are now. Our Sisters have been wholly supportive and involved in embracing this new model, one so different from what they have known from their early days and yet not so different in the ‘day to day’. It is a great relief to us that we now have a ‘succession plan’ in place. We no longer need to look behind us and be reminded (as if we could forget) that there is no one there to step forward and lead us into the future. We are deeply grateful to the Victorian and Western Australian Presentation Congregations who are blessing us in the persons of Maria, Nola and Anna to ‘hold’ the leadership space for those occasions when it may be necessary for them to take some responsibility for us – albeit from their own ‘resident’ Congregations in other states where they will remain. Our Congregation faces the future with peace and hope, one that is unfolding as we take the next steps forward. There’s something deeply meaningful, in that our foundation in Tasmania was begun by nine Sisters, and at this time of transition, 156 years and 150 Sisters later. There are now just nine Sisters still carrying the Lantern. So, where are our sisters now and how are we continuing to live our Presentation Mission today? For many years, our main ministry was carried out in schools. Education was seen as a way to help people realise their potential and address the issues that existed in society. Like our Foundress, Nano Nagle, our ministry also extended to the families, the parish and the wider community. With Vatican II, there was a call for all people to recognise their God-given vocation; Religious all over the world were asked to undertake a process of renewal and to discern what God was asking them to do in response to the needs of today. As a result, lay people started working with Religious, and we found ourselves interacting more closely with the society in which we lived and worked.

Today, our ministry in the schools continues through those men and women who staff our schools, care for and protect the vulnerable, and foster a sense of justice among our young people. Although most of our Sisters are no longer working in schools, there is still an educational involvement on school boards, various educational committees, adult learning initiatives and support of staff. Additionally, some Sisters are involved in tutoring or providing support for students with special needs. Many of us maintain a mutually supportive relationship with our past pupils and others who have been closely associated with our ministry, including our Presentation Associates with whom we gather and experience mutual support. Through the years, some Sisters have been asked to take on chaplaincy or pastoral care roles in schools, tertiary institutes, hospitals, nursing homes, industry or civic organisations. A number of Sisters were also engaged in parish ministry in areas where there was no resident priest. Most of us today have a supportive role in the parishes in which we live, and some are involved in prayer or discussion groups, or parish activities like sacramental preparation, visitation to aged care facilities, and for some, membership of groups like the Catholic Women’s League and Legion of Mary. Some have had a longstanding involvement at Archdiocesan level. All of us, no matter who we are, are called each day to bring God’s love to those around us: to greet those we encounter with a smile of welcome, to listen to them, to share their joys and sorrows, to encourage and learn from each other, and to be grateful for the love we receive. Tasmanian Presentation Sisters