It was a day of mixed emotions and new beginnings for the Ursuline Sisters who bid their final farewell to Armidale and their home of 129 years at a special mass and service at the Ursuline Convent on Sunday.
Over 250 members of the community and past St Ursula’s College students came from afar to pay homage to the wonderful women who have shaped and nurtured so many lives across the region.
Farewell activities began for the Sisters with visits to St Mary’s School and O’Connor Catholic College, a dinner on Saturday night, followed on Sunday with a mass and the final ritual to mark the handover of the Ursuline Convent to the Catholic Schools Office in Armidale.
The main courtyard at the Ursuline Convent was filled with love and fond memories of the Ursuline Sisters, past and present, who had touched the lives of so many people.
For the last time the Ursuline Sisters led the community in prayer, with the buildings making up the Ursuline Convent coming to life and paying their own homage to their custodians for the last 129 years.
Throughout the handover ritual the Ursuline Sisters looked towards a new future and the “strange new path” that awaits them as they “roll up their tent and move on”.
The sisters did not dwell long on the sense of sadness as they parted with their foundational house here in Armidale after 129 years.
“It has been really nice to celebrate with everyone and a good way to depart from Armidale,” said Sr Cath Duxbury.
“There are about 30 of us who have come to say farewell and we have all been working together and it will be sad to leave here, but we take good memories and lots of interesting connections.
“We are an international group and meet with others all over the world.
“We move and change according to the needs of the times, we are by no means an isolated group from that point of view.
“There are many, many people that have supported me along the way, especially my educational companions; we meet people all the time, they are our companions along the journey.”
John Mula from the Catholic Schools Office who are now the new custodians of the Ursuline Convent is looking forward to the new challenges ahead.
“Our plans are twofold; firstly to maintain the integrity of the facility and ensure that the ethos of the sisters remain, and secondly to incorporate it as part of our office facilities into the future,” he said. “We have a plan in process that will take us well into next year.
“It was a difficult decision in some ways to take over the buildings, but it was something that we had been working toward for some time, in consultation with the Bishop.
“Really it was well thought through, we looked at the possibilities and realised that this was the way to go for us.
“The Bishop is yet to make up his mind about the future of the Chapel, thankfully the sisters have bequeathed the chapel in its entirety.
“The sisters have touched so many lives over so many years, it is wonderful to see generation upon generation here.
Also, the sisters had a wonderful function at St Mary’s on Friday, it was like coming home for many of them who had taught at St Mary’s over the years.”
The Ursuline Sisters may not have a physical presence in Armidale anymore but will forever be remembered in the hearts of so many, whose lives have been shaped by their presence and guiding hand for the last 129 years.
Story: Jo Harrison
