When Religious Education Leader at St Mary’s School, Malvern East, Anne McDonald returned from Italy having joined the Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools (MACS) pilgrimage ‘Inspired to Lead’, she didn’t realise her journey would make the news! St Mary’s student, Isabella Adair interviewed her teacher about her soul-searching journey and had her article published on the national news site Kids News.
Here is an excerpt:
When Mrs McDonald was selected to join the twelve-day ‘Inspired to Lead Pilgrimage’, she was prepared to spend just under two weeks with 40 people who were religious leaders from within the Melbourne Archdiocese. These 40 included three priests and two nuns who taught them lots along the way. Her goal was to build the capacity of the teachers at St Marys with what she learned. After speaking with Mrs McDonald you could tell that this trip deepened her faith, filled her with knowledge and taught her lots of things about the Catholic faith.
While a trip to Italy is always fascinating, a Pilgrimage is much more than that. Mrs McDonald explained that a Pilgrimage is a journey involving a renewal of faith and soul searching, which is both enriching and rewarding.
‘It was fascinating to visit sites in Rome where people sacrificed their lives for their faith’, she said.
The first location of the Pilgrimage was in Rome. The focus there was to begin a deeper understanding of the historical context of Rome. In Siena the focus was to learn about the teachings of St Catherine of Siena, who got in trouble a lot for talking to God instead of doing her jobs. The last place that they visited on the Pilgrimage was Assisi. Here they focused on getting inspiration from St Francis and St Clare.
Mrs McDonald was very excited to share her learnings and experience with me as I interviewed her, it was evident in her body language and her smile. She was proud to share her photos and stories with me.
It was very clear that this Pilgrimage has changed, for the better, Mrs McDonald’s view of the Catholic faith and will be of great benefit to St Marys in many ways in the future.
Read the full article here.
