The Good Samaritan Sisters have ministered in the Townsville Diocese since the year 1900.
In 2022 the Sisters residing in the Diocese are:
TOWNSVILLE
Sr Bernice McDonnell
Sr Judith Foster
Sr Marion Firth (Dean) mfirth@goodsams.org.au
AYR
Sr Carmel Pattinson
The ministries in which the Sisters are involved include Parish Pastoral Ministry, Liturgy Consultancy, Spirituality, Prison Chaplaincy, Ministry to Refugees, Community Animation, and Hospitality.
DIOCESAN HISTORY
Charters Towers
The first Good Samaritan community in the Diocese was established at Charters Towers in 1900 in response to an appeal from Bishop Higgins of Rockhampton to take up the challenge of providing teaching personnel for Charters Towers. On 1 February 1900, 700 children enrolled at St Columba's Primary School and at this time the Sisters became responsible for a flourishing Boarding School at St Mary's.
Soon after the arrival of the Sisters St Patrick's Primary School opened at Millchester and two Sisters travelled there daily from St Mary's Convent, until 1914, when the Millchester population dwindled. The Sisters left St Mary's at the end of 1978 and a lay principal took responsibility for St Mary's day and boarding college. St Mary's, St Columba's Primary and Mount Carmel College were amalgamated in 1997 to become Columba Catholic College, under lay principalship.
Hughenden
In October 1900, six Sisters travelled to Hughenden to provide education to the children of 'lawless' Hughenden. The school opened in the parish church with an enrolment of 120 children, which soon rose to 175. From 1905 to 1968, St Francis Convent provided boarding facilities for primary boys. In March, 2014 the Good Samaritan presence in Hughenden ceased when the two remaining Sisters moved to the Charters Towers community.
Ayr
The Sisters of the Good Samaritan arrived in Ayr in 1912. Catholic Primary Schools were opened in both Brandon and Ayr, and the Sisters resided at Brandon until 1920, when the community moved to a new Convent in Ayr. In 1945 the Sisters opened St Francis Xavier Girls High School, and taught there and in St Francis Xavier Primary School for many years. The Sisters also taught in the pre-school and Infants School at Parkside for a number of years from 1975. At the end of 1996 the Sisters’ involvement in education and pastoral ministry in Ayr came to an end.
Townsville
The first Good Samaritan community arrived in Townsville on 7 January, 1936. The Sisters took up residence in 'Woodlands Estate' on the corner of Bayswater Road and Charters Towers Road and began St Margaret Mary’s Primary School immediately with thirty pupils, catering for girls and boys from early education to commercial classes.
A new Church/School was blessed and opened by Bishop Maguire on 10 May, 1936. It began with 75 pupils, and by the end of the first week the number had increased to 120 pupils. Each weekend the school was converted for Parish worship until St Margaret Mary’s church was built.
On the occasion of the Silver Jubilee of St Margaret Mary's primary school, Bishop Hugh Ryan announced that a new high school for girls would be established. St Margaret Mary’s Secondary College opened in 1963. Eventually the ministry of education at St Margaret Mary’s College was handed to lay leadership and lay teachers.
Palm Island
With the withdrawal of the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary from Palm Island in 2011, two Good Samaritan Sisters went to live and minister on Palm Island. Previously a number of Good Samaritan Sisters had ministered on Palm Island with temporary placements in St Michael’s School. The community presence and ministry of the Good Samaritan Sisters was entrusted to the Holy Spirit Sisters in 2018.
Richmond
In 2013 the Good Samaritan Sisters took up the Diocesan appointment of Co-Ordination of MacKillop House of Spirituality at Richmond along with the ministries of parish leadership and pastoral care in the Central West. The Good Samaritan Sisters completed their ministry outreach to the Parishes of the Central West at the end of July 2022.
CONGREGATIONAL OVERVIEW
The Sisters of the Good Samaritan were founded as a Catholic Religious Congregation in Sydney in 1857 by Archbishop John Bede Polding, a Benedictine monk, together with Mother Scholastica Gibbons, a Sister of Charity. The Sisters committed to living the evangelical vows, to a communal life of prayer and the seeking of God, and a response through compassion and education to the social needs of the times
The Sisters of the Good Samaritan of the Order of St Benedict, follow the Rule of St Benedict and the Rules of Polding, and commit themselves to seek God in all of life.
Guided by the Gospel, Good Samaritan Sisters value community, individual and communal prayer, peace, a simple lifestyle, compassion, social justice and ecological stewardship.
As Archbishop Polding wrote, the name indicates the scope of the ministry outreach of the Sisters who now minister in Japan, the Philippines, Kiribati and Australia.
Contact Website: www.goodsams.org.au