Our FCJ History in Asia-Australia
In the spirit and desire of our Foundress
and in our own living heritage
are found the vision and the hope
of Faithful Companions of Jesus. (Constitutions)
In Australia
FIRST FOUNDATION
The Sisters, Faithful Companions of Jesus, founded in France in 1820, arrived in Australia in 1882 in response to the Education Act of 1872 that divided schools into different categories: State and non-Government.
The Act spelt the end of financial support for all religious and independent schools and meant that if the Catholic Church wanted to maintain existing schools and establish new schools, it had to find all necessary finance. The priests and bishops sought help from religious communities overseas.
The parish priest of Richmond sent to Ireland for Christian Brothers and the FCJ Sisters he had known in Limerick. Two Brothers arrived in 1876 and, in 1882, twelve FCJ Sisters set sail from Liverpool, arriving in Melbourne on 1st June 1882, "to conduct three schools at Richmond (a mission of the Jesuit Fathers), a high school and an intermediate school, both for young ladies, paying pupils and a free school" of 600 pupils.
BEYOND RICHMOND
By 1888, the Richmond community numbered 34 Sisters and demands on the school were outstripping the available space so a fifteen acre block of land was bought at Kew. The following year eight Sisters moved to the new convent boarding school which became Genazzano. A further two acres was purchased later and became the Junior School. Boarding was phased out in 1979.
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| Range View, 1st house | Newly built Genazzano | Genazzano today |
COUNTRY VICTORIA
In 1900 on 14 August, the FCJ Sisters arrived at Benalla, in response to an invitation from Dean Davy.
Although they are no longer teaching in either the Primary or the Secondary schools, the Sisters retain governance of FCJ College and are involved in Parish and community activities.
Our Lady of the Angels, Benalla
THE PENINSULA
In 1968, the Sisters established "Stella Maris", a boarding and day school at Frankston. The last of the boarders from Vaucluse were relocated here in the guest rooms of the former Peninsula Country Golf Club, part of which had been purchased by the Country Roads Board for a freeway. The other part was purchased by the Sisters for the school.
The Marianists opened a College for boys in 1974 and in 1979 the two schools were formed into one co-educational Regional College, John Paul College.
The FCJ Convent in Frankston ("Stella Maris", shown at the right) closed at the end of 1996.
From Frankston the Sisters travelled to St Anne's, Seaford and St John's, East Frankston and involved themselves also in areas of parish life at St Francis Xavier, Frankston.
In 1975, five Sisters were contracted for 5 years as a Frontier Group at Langwarrin where they worked with the priest and the local community to establish a primary school and a strong parish community.
AUSTRALIANS ABROAD
Since 1986 a number of Australian FCJ Sisters have joined British, Irish, Canadian, European and American FCJs in developing countries "being ready to be sent anywhere for the Kingdom of God". They have spent many years in Sierra Leone, Bolivia, the Philippines, Indonesia and Romania. In the 1990s, Australian FCJs withdrew from Sierra Leone and Romania.
FURTHER AFIELD IN AUSTRALIA
The FCJ Sisters engaged in ministry in the Kimberley from 1987 to 1995. There the Sisters worked at Notre Dame University and with the Catholic Education Office, moving throughout the Kimberley as consultants as well as participating in local parish activities. Other individual ministries took Sisters to Sydney and Adelaide where they have responded to community needs. A community of Sisters now lives and works in Adelaide.
Through their presence in parishes, the Sisters are involved in pastoral work; others are engaged in social welfare, the support of people with disabilities and welfare in schools. They respond wherever they can, in the spirit of Marie Madeleine d'Houet, seeking to meet the needs of the time.
In Indonesia
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| Sister Marion talks with women in the market in Kupang, West Timor |
The first Faithful Companion of Jesus came to Indonesia in December 1987. Soon after her arrival, another sister came to accompany her and, by the beginning in 1988, there was a small community of two sisters in Yogyakarta. One came from Australia and the other from England. They taught English at Sanata Dharma University which is run by the Jesuits. From 1993 to 1997, we also had a community in Kupang, West Timor.
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| Sisters Afra and Agnes on the eve of their first profession, with Sr. Paula Terroni, general superior. |
In 1991, we received
our first two Indonesian postulants, Agnes Samosir and Afra Primadiana. In 1994 they made their first vows. Since 1992 other sisters from Ireland, England and Australia have been sent to Indonesia. They work in various ministries such us teaching English, nursing, promoting natural family planning, pastoral work and, most importantly, in engaging in initial religious formation for the FCJ Society.
In 1998 we opened a second house in Baciro, Yogyakarta. The Indonesian sisters who have recently made vows, while continuing their studies, are also involved in the ministry of education, pastoral work and the spiritual accompaniment and spiritual animation of young people. What was begun by two sisters in 1988, now numbers eighteen sisters in 2003. Thirteen of them are Indonesian.
At the beginning of September 2002, we opened our third community in Purwokerto (more ...). Sisters Afra and Wina were missioned to this community and were later joined by Sr. Margaret Claver Hayes. The house in Purwokerto closed in late 2005.
On November 1st 2005, the Province of Asia-Australia opened a new community in Ende, Flores, Indonesia, about 2000 km from Yogyakarta. Sisters Afra, Narni and Yustin have been learning about Ende and its people, becoming established in their ministries and making contacts with the local people. More about Ende ....
As FCJs in Indonesia, we have a strong desire to be involved in mission and in ministry for women, to be involved in inter-religious dialogue, to offer Ignatian spirituality as the foundation for spiritual accompaniment and animation, to be companions for many people - both Christians and Moslem alike - who are now struggling in the present unstable situation in Indonesia.
We believe that the future is challenging but full of hope for Indonesia. We are encouraged by the awareness that many things can be offered through our charism, not by doing our own 'works', but by a companionship whose characteristics are working and walking with other people.
May God give us wisdom and courage to be witnesses of the Good News for the people of Indonesia.
In the Philippines
In 1988 six FCJ sisters went to the Philippines. Two communities were established; one in Manila and one in Naga (1989), a rural area in Zamboanga Del Sur on the island of Mindanao.
In Naga one of the sisters set up a basic health scheme which, gradually, came to be run by the people themselves. The community also set up and administered a fund to help needy students continue their education. A number of self-help schemes (such as a co-operative) were started which have born considerable fruit over the years and for which the local people are now responsible. The accompaniment of young people was also a particular concern for this community as also has been the support and animation of women. Our sisters have also been able to offer expertise and assistance for the care and preservation of the environment in this rural and deprived area. Towards the end of 2000, after a time of discernment, the FCJ sisters came to the decision to conclude its ministry in Naga so the community left this part of Mindanao (see below) and moved to Maasin, Southern Leyte, another Cebuano region of the Philippines.
In Manila some sisters have been teaching students at University level which others have been involved in work with the urban poor, especially in some of the most deprived squatter areas. Other sisters work in parishes, raising awareness of the poor in their parish and surrounding areas, and thus eliciting practical ways of being in solidarity with them. The novitiate is also situated in Manila and the City has, over the years offered many opportunities for further studies and ongoing formation.
In Maasin, Southern Leyte, (2000) the sisters have begun to work closely with the Bishop in parish and community building, in catechetics, and in work with the youth and those in prison.
The aim of our sisters working with poor people wherever they are living in the Philippines, has always been to work alongside them, to learn from them, and in turn, to pass on their own skills and expertise to assist them to develop their own ways to a deeper faith and to a better standard of living, and to build a more just and caring society.
We are desirous to share our FCJ charism with the Filipino people. Our sisters are zealous to make our charism known by means of 'search-ins' (meetings to explain the call to religious life), the dissemination of literature and hospitality, particularly to youth. Presently we have three Filipina sisters who are temporarily professed in the Society. We rejoice that the seed of our FCJ charism has been sown in the Philippines!
Click here to access a page about 'leaving Naga'.
Click here to access a page with early articles about Payatas.
TODAY
In 2002, the Sisters from Australia, Indonesia and the Philippines united to form a new province of the FCJ Society - the Province of Asia-Australia. Sr. Barbara Brown-Graham, an Australian who was the first FCJ to go to Indonesia, became the provincial superior of this new province.
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They remain ready to answer the challenge of being open to the call of the apostolate, to go where there is need and to withdraw whenever their work is no longer required. They seek to continue the spirit or charism of their Foundress who prayed:
"My God, all I want is the accomplishment of your will".
To read about the Provincial Archives of the Province of Asia-Australia, click here.
To read more about the history of the FCJ Society worldwide, click here.