Community honours Sisters of St Joseph

Nearly three decades after they moved to Ultimo on a mission to transform the causes of poverty and marginalisation, sisters Margaret and Teresa of the Sisters of St Joseph have been honoured at a special mass in Pyrmont.
The sisters were also recently chosen Sydney’s Nominees for the NSW Women of the Year Award by Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore, who praised the sisters saying that “their home has become a place of welcome to all”.
This is not the first time their contributions to the community have been recognised. In 1984 Sister Teresa received an Australia Day Community Award from the then Mayor, Douglas William Sutherland, for her work with psychiatric patients.
Sister Margaret is also renowned for her work with prisoners from Parramatta and Long Bay Gaols, who she wrote to, visited, brought books for and comforted in times of grief.
“Margaret experienced the terrible inconvenience suffered by prisoners’ visitors who were required to stand outside the gaol, sometimes in rain, waiting possibly for hours in the hope of seeing the relative or friend,” said NSW Provisional, Sister Mary Quinlan said at the event.
Also speaking at the event, Minister Robin Davies of the Ultimo Mustard Seed Uniting Church told The City News that her relationship with the nuns was a great example of how different faiths could work together for the good of their local community.
Though now in their eighties, the sisters show no signs of slowing down.