By Mathews Noble
On Sunday 16th June, the first-year seminarians at Corpus Christi College with our formator, Fr Daryl Montecillo, embarked on the annual pilgrimage to Penola in the footsteps of St Mary of the Cross MacKillop. Our journey commenced after morning mass at the seminary and a pilgrim’s blessing from our rector, Fr Cameron Forbes.
After several hours of driving, we made our first stop in Hamilton to visit the grave of Mary’s father Alexander MacKillop. From there, we continued on to Mount Gambier where we met with Fr Olek Stirrat, Assistant Priest at St Paul’s, the local parish. Fr Olek joined the group for dinner where he gave us an insight into the life of Mount Gambier.
The following day started off with mass with Fr Olek and the local parishioners at St Paul’s. From there it was a short drive to Penola to visit the Mary MacKillop Centre and St Joseph’s Church. It was fascinating to learn about St Mary’s life, see the school where she taught, and walk through the historic ‘Petticoat Lane’ – a local street preserved to what it would have been at the time St Mary walked in those streets. One highlight was to see and venerate a first-class relic which was brought to Rome for her canonisation in 2010. Afterwards, we made our way back to Mt Gambier, with an important detour, namely, to visit some local wineries along the way.
Day three of our pilgrimage saw us depart from Mt Gambier to the Cape Nelson Lighthouse. From there, the first years individually embarked on a fourteen kilometre walk to our accommodation in Portland, through a beautiful part of the Great South West Walk. Having time alone in the midst of nature to prayerfully reflect on our first semester of seminary life was a beautiful experience. In the evening, we met Fr Gregory Tait, Parish Priest of All Saints Catholic Church, Portland. Father Greg explained the historic significance of Portland in St Mary’s life while showing us around the school where she taught.
The final day of our pilgrimage commenced with morning mass with Fr Greg and the local parishioners at All Saints. Finally, it was time to start the long drive back to the seminary. The journey had come to an end but our journey to the priesthood has perhaps just begun. In the words of St Mary, it was also a reminder that “all of us are but travellers here”.
