May Reflection Day

On Saturday 26th May, we met in the crypt of St Patrick’s Church Hill to share in our Reflection Day. St Pat’s is one of the historic Marist sites in Sydney and we were introduced to some of that history by Br Fred, who also took us on tours of the older parts of the site during our breaks.

The main topic for the day was the showing of Br Des Murphy’s film, Maristes Sans Frontieres, the story of the work of the Marist pioneers in the Pacific. The first part of this film, To the Far Side of the World, introduced us to Peter Channel, giving us insights into the man, his motivation and the work he performed. In the second part, Not Counting the Cost, we met Francoise Perroton and were again inspired by the courage and dedication of these early pioneers.

Reading excerpts from letters sent by these two gave us some small insight into the isolation and hardship they experienced.

In these days of instant communication, it was sobering to be reminded of the courage required for Peter and Francoise to leave all that was familiar to them and to travel to the far side of the world to carry out their Marist Mission. We are grateful to Br Des for putting together this insightful presentation and for sharing it with us.

Val Norris