Loreto Australia & South East Asia

15/06/2026

💙 Felicity celebrations at Loreto College Coorparoo 💙

It is wonderful to see Loreto College Coorparoo exploring the Loreto value of Felicity this year through the theme “Live with joy. Grow in love.” This phrase reminds us that joy and felicity are things we choose to find in simple yet meaningful, moments, and that love extends beyond ourselves, remaining present and sustaining us even in times of darkness.

Lucia Elliot, 2026 Art Council Leader, worked with students to design the College’s Felicity banner and reflects on the creative process:

“We chose to use the symbol of a shooting star to represent a small moment where felicity can be found, while also symbolising hope, faith and guidance. Woven throughout the clouds are strings of pearls, included to commemorate Mother Gonzaga Barry, and symbolise the journey and legacy of Loreto over the last 150 years.”

These creative expressions of the Mary Ward charism capture the hope, legacy, and light that continue to inspire and guide the Loreto community, now and into the future.

Read more in the latest issue of the Loreto Networker, where we explore how Loreto schools across Australia are expressing Felicity in diverse and meaningful ways this year: https://www.loreto.org.au/felicity-in-action-across-loreto-schools/

🎨Artwork credit: Loreto College Coorparoo

13/06/2026

Stepping up for a very special cause. 💙

On Friday, 29 May, members of the Loreto community took part in the Very Special Kids 24-Hour Treadmill Challenge, helping raise funds for children and young people with life-limiting conditions and their families.

In its second year participating in the challenge, the Loreto team, led by the Health and Wellbeing team, was joined by Sisters, staff, retired colleagues, family members and friends to walk in honour of two remarkable women: Mary Buccieri and Sr Margaret Noone IBVM AM.

Mary, a much-loved Community and Home Care Support Worker, cared for the Sisters with extraordinary warmth, generosity and dedication over many years, always going above and beyond in her support of others. Following her unexpected passing earlier this year, it was especially meaningful to honour her memory through this year's challenge. We were privileged to be joined by Mary's family and friends, whose outstanding fundraising efforts reflected the deep love and respect so many held for her.

The challenge also recognised the enduring legacy of Sr Margaret Noone IBVM AM, a Loreto Sister whose vision and advocacy transformed paediatric palliative care in Australia. Joining Very Special Kids in its creation in 1985 as its first employee, Sr Margaret was instrumental in establishing Australia's first children's hospice and remained patron of the organisation until her death. Her compassion and commitment to children with life-limiting conditions and their families continue to inspire the work of Very Special Kids today.

The Very Special Kids 24-Hour Treadmill Challenge brings together teams from across Victoria to keep treadmills moving continuously for 24 hours in support of Very Special Kids and Victoria's only children's hospice.

Together, participants in this year's challenge raised an incredible $1,149,360 to support Very Special Kids and the families they care for.

Thank you to everyone who walked, fundraised, cheered and supported this important cause. Through this shared effort, we honoured two women whose lives embodied compassion, generosity and care for others. 💙

12/06/2026

Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus | 12 June

Today, the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus speaks to a world hungry for mercy and tenderness. It reminds us that love is not abstract, but personal, wounded, and offered freely. The Sacred Heart invites us to pause, to let compassion guide our choices, and to respond to suffering with patience rather than judgment.

In a time marked by noise and division, this feast calls us back to quiet trust, humble service, and restorative hope. It assures us that divine love remains close, enduring, and strong enough to heal hearts and renew communities, for all ages, cultures, and generations.

Take a few moments on this day to place before the Sacred Heart your personal needs and those of family and friends and the world. Listen for the consoling words that love is offered freely - God’s love to you and all of creation and your love in turn to all whom you meet.

11/06/2026

🎨✨ Now on Display Until 4 August: The Religious Art of Sr Susan Daily CJ OAM

Loreto Province is delighted to share that an exhibition of artwork by Sr Susan Daily CJ OAM is currently on display at The Eymard Centre, St Francis' Church in Melbourne until 4 August.

An award-winning Religious Graphic Artist and member of the Congregation of Jesus (Loreto Sisters), Susan has illustrated biblical stories since childhood. Her work brings Scripture to life through a distinctive symbolic style that is simple, bold and deeply prayerful.

Shaped by study, travel and engagement with Sacred Scripture, Susan's art reflects influences from Europe, the Holy Land, and remote Australian and Aboriginal communities. Recognised with an Order of Australia Medal (OAM) in 2014 for her contribution to religious art and Aboriginal communities, Susan continues to inspire people of all ages through her creative expression of faith.

At the heart of her practice is a unique visual language of vibrant colour and symbolic forms that invite reflection and contemplation. Notably, Susan leaves out facial features in her depictions of Jesus, allowing viewers to imagine Christ personally and encounter the Gospel story in their own way.

"I've loved illustrating biblical stories since childhood and dream of illustrating the whole Bible. As I create, I pray with the text, letting Scripture guide each image," Susan reflects.

Her work, created using both traditional and digital media, is widely used in education, worship and spiritual reflection, and encourages others, especially students and artists, to explore Scripture creatively.

This special exhibition offers an opportunity to encounter faith through art and experience the imagination, wisdom and prayer that underpin Susan's work.

📍 The Eymard Centre, St Francis' Church
326 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne VIC 3000

📅 24 May – 4 August
🕰 Monday–Friday: 10.00am–4.00pm
🕰 Sunday: 10.00am–3.00pm

To explore more of Susan's artwork and creative ministry, visit SusanDailyArt.com.au.

If you are in Melbourne, we warmly encourage you to visit and encounter faith through art for yourself.

SUSAN DAILY ART

09/06/2026

🌿 A Living Legacy: Tree Planting Across Loreto Schools 🌿

Mother Gonzaga Barry’s vision for Loreto schools began as a seed that has grown into the flourishing network we are part of today. In 2025, as we marked 150 years, Loreto school communities across Australia planted trees as part of a shared liturgy, renewing their commitment to Gonzaga’s legacy of faith, love and service.

Gonzaga imagined Loreto schools as places of growth, not only academically but spiritually and morally: “What I desire most for each child is not just a good education, but that they grow into women of integrity, who lead with love, humility, and courage.”

Together, these trees form a living connection between Loreto schools across Australia. Rooted in the vision of Mother Gonzaga Barry and nurtured by each community, they stand as enduring symbols of unity, faith and hope.

As they grow in their unique environments, they remind us that the Loreto story continues to unfold, and that each generation is called to carry this legacy forward with courage, compassion and care for creation.

Read the full article in the latest issue of Eucalyptus Blossoms to discover how each school brought this shared activity to life in their community: https://www.loreto.org.au/tree-planting-across-loreto-schools-a-living-legacy/

Loreto College Ballarat Loreto College Coorparoo Loreto College, Marryatville, SA Loreto Mandeville Hall Toorak Loreto Normanhurst Loreto Kirribilli

07/06/2026

Feast of Corpus Christi | 7 June

Traditionally celebrated on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday, this ancient feast is transferred to Sunday in many countries so that its beauty and mystery is not lost. It echoes the Holy Thursday celebration of the ‘Last Supper’.

Long gone (in most places) are the days of processing in public with the Monstrance held high, priests in splendid robes and the people following singing hymns and praying prayers. In Liège, Belgium, where Juliana the hermit wrote to Rome requesting such a feast day to honour the Blessed Sacrament, the day was celebrated on the river Meuse - large banner-bearing barges carrying the precious cargo surrounded by clergy and the faithful in smaller boats. Mary Ward and her companions would have attended such festivities.

But what of today - how do we best honour and revere the ‘real presence’ in each other as well as that held securely in a locked Tabernacle? Could it be that our current challenge and invitation is to honour the one who is the stranger, the outcast, the one whose difference is a threat? In our fabulously diverse but fractured world, the God-given dignity of each person created in the image of God could well be the ‘real presence’ of the One who is in all and longs to be honoured.

03/06/2026

Today, on Mabo Day, we honour the life and legacy of Eddie Koiki Mabo and the historic High Court decision that recognised the native title rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

As Loreto people, we are called to seek truth and do justice. Through the work of the Loreto Justice Network and our commitment to the rights of First Nations peoples, we continue to learn from the truths of our shared history and support the ongoing journey of reconciliation, justice and healing.

We give thanks for the courage and determination of Eddie Mabo and all those who have worked to advance the rights of First Nations peoples.

Learn more about the Loreto Justice Network and its commitment to First Nations justice:
https://loreto.org.au/resources/rightsoffirstnationspeoples-actioncentre/

The final day of National Reconciliation Week every year is one of the most significant in Australia.

Mabo Day, celebrated annually on 3 June, commemorates Mer Island man Eddie Koiki Mabo and his successful advocacy to overturn the legal fiction of terra nullius, or ‘land belonging to no-one’.

Following the High Court’s Mabo decision, Australia’s Federal Parliament passed the Native Title Act 1993 which established a legal framework for native title claims throughout Australia by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

and Mabo Day are a reminder to be ‘All In’ to learn about our shared histories, cultures, and achievements, and to commit ourselves to reconciliation and the fight for First Nations justice in Australia.

🎞️ To learn more about Mabo and the High Court case, check out ‘Judgment: Cases That Changed Australia’ on ABC iview: https://ab.co/4uGzxcT

03/06/2026

It is with sadness that the CJ Sisters (Loreto) of Australia and South-East Asia announce the peaceful death of Sr Leonie Peterson CJ on Sunday, 24 May 2026, aged 88.

Born in Subiaco, Western Australia, on 16 February 1938, Leonie attended Loreto Convent Claremont before entering the Loreto Sisters in 1956. Inspired by her Loreto education, she dedicated her life to teaching, leadership and pastoral care across Loreto communities in Australia and overseas.

Sr Leonie taught in Portland, Albert Park, Claremont, Toorak and Ballarat before serving in leadership roles within the Institute, including as Superior at Normanhurst and later the General Council in Rome from 1980 to 1986.

Returning to Australia, she became Superior of the Marryatville Community and later Vicar for Religious for the Adelaide Archdiocese, where she fostered collaboration between religious communities and the wider Church.

In 1995, Sr Leonie returned to Perth and joined the pastoral staff at John XXIII College, continuing her ministry through the Mary Ward Centre and Learning Enrichment Centre until her retirement in 2018.

Those who knew Sr Leonie remember her ready humour, perceptive listening and genuine care for every person she encountered.

May she rest in peace.

Funeral details:

The Funeral Mass for Sr Leonie Peterson CJ will be celebrated in St Joseph's Catholic Church, 3 Salvado Road, Subiaco, commencing at 10:30 am on Friday, 12.06.2026. Following the Mass the cortege will meet at main entrance of Karrakatta Cemetery, on Railway Road, Karrakatta at 13.30 pm for a Burial Service.

Those unable to attend may view the webcast of the Mass on the Funeral Video Australia website at 10.30am AEST via this link:
https://bowraodea.com.au/tribute-page/?nid=9b1b85aa-e6b7-4203-8250-d0d43e6b67e3

John XXIII College - Perth

02/06/2026

What does it mean to be a “Seeker of Truth and Doer of Justice” in today’s world?

The Melbourne Friends of Mary Ward Circle has been exploring this question through monthly gatherings of prayer, conversation and shared reflection since reconnecting after the Loreto Federation at Loreto Mandeville Hall Toorak in October 2024.

Meeting on the first Sunday afternoon of each month from February to November, the Circle brings together Loreto women seeking to live out their faith through the vision and spirituality of Mary Ward – whose call to be “Seekers of Truth and Doers of Justice” continues to inspire and challenge us more than 400 years later.

The next gathering will take place on Sunday 7 June.

Through thought-provoking conversations on themes such as “Who is my Neighbour?”, members are encouraged to step beyond their comfort zones, share their experiences, and reflect together on how we can live faith-filled lives in today’s world.

Alongside a longstanding Friends of Mary Ward group in Perth, the Melbourne Circle offers an opportunity for Loreto women to gather in the spirit of Mary Ward for prayer, reflection and shared conversation. Enquiries are welcomed from anyone interested in learning more about the Friends of Mary Ward or exploring the possibility of establishing a group in their local area.

Are you interested in joining the Melbourne Friends of Mary Ward Circle, or curious to learn more about the initiative? Contact us via email at:
[email protected]

01/06/2026

June’s Words of Wisdom from Mary Ward

‘If people give you trouble meet them with friendly words for you will soften both yourself and them.’

SUSAN DAILY ART