Director, Mission & Identity, Carolyn Young, Reflects on Mary Ward Week 2025

Mary Ward Week occurred at the beginning of an incredibly important year for the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary (IBVM) and the Congregation of Jesus (CJ), and of a special year in the life of the IBVM in Australia and South East Asia. Locally, we celebrate 150 years of Loreto life in this part of the world, as Sisters from both Institutes around the world make their final discernments about the ‘becoming one’ of these two groups of strong and faithful women. Proudly we can proclaim Mary Ward to be the founder of both institutes, and this is but one aspect of her legacy that has been celebrated across the last eight days.

Mary Ward Week began in the Loreto Centre in Melbourne with a birthday cake in honour of Mary Ward’s 440th day of birth. Colleagues took time to celebrate and give thanks for the opportunity to serve the mission that Mary worked so hard to establish in the face of much and varied opposition. That evening, Sisters cooked English meals (including roast beef and Yorkshire Pudding), as they celebrated the inspiration and joy they have experienced during their lifetime of commitment to living in Mary Ward’s way. Around the country and the world, IBVM and CJ Sisters rejoiced in their shared commitment to creating opportunity and justice for all. It has been great to connect with different celebrations through social media and other clever ways both institutes have devised to help us to get to know one another.

Here in Australia, members of Loreto communities, including many who work in Loreto schools, took up the invitation to join with the Sisters in the shared experience of daily, personal reflections. These writings were designed to nourish connection with the Mary Ward charism and our commitment to our vocations – to transform the Church and the world particularly through empowering women to seek truth and do justice. Each day we have immersed ourselves in reflections prepared in concert by IBVM and CJ Sisters, as well as another by Companions of Mary Ward, and made time to explore questions designed to support us to live as ‘pilgrims of hope’, determined to engage with the world around us and build peace, love, justice and reconciliation.

These readings have also inspired reflection on challenges the IBVM and CJ may experience this year, as well as the challenges our educational ministries here in Australia face as we continue to work together in this infancy stage of our new Ministerial Public Juridic Person, Loreto Ministries. The final piece, written by Institute Leaders, Veronica Fuhrmann CJ and Carmel Swords IBVM, began by reminding us:

“After Mary Ward’s death her followers found themselves on a challenging and unexpected path. There were significant struggles and doubts. Yet considerable opportunities arose to share the message of hope that is so central to our charism and to the gospel of Jesus. Being attuned to the spirit led women like Mary Poyntz, Frances Bedingfield and Teresa Ball to begin new foundations, leave the safe and familiar and make a contribution in other cultures, other lands.”

May this year, this Jubilee Year, inspire us all to learn from the incredible examples of the countless committed and faithful women and men who have come before us, to be agents of hope in our world of great need. To look beyond our individual experiences and have the grace to place the needs of others before ourselves, as we strive to be pilgrims of hope for the 21st century.