It is 50 years this year, since Kilbreda was visited by a saint! Well, she hadn’t quite attained that status then, but in 1973, Mother Teresa of Calcutta visited Melbourne for the 40^th International Eucharistic Congress.  As a young boy, I went to a Mass at St Pat’s Cathedral with our local Cubs (as we were a Catholic Scout Troop) and saw the future Pope John Paul II celebrating Mass. At that time, he was the relatively unknown Cardinal Karol Wojtyla. Mother Teresa addressed a gathering at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl, saying ‘Here also in Melbourne, we have people who are not wanted, who are not loved, and they are His, they are He,’ she said. ‘And they are ours. They are our brothers and sisters.”

Another significant event was Australia’s first Aboriginal Liturgy, for a crowd of 30,000 at the Music Bowl on February 24.

Locally, excitement built with the coming to Mentone of Mother Teresa and two other sisters of Charity. Attending an outdoor Mass on the oval at St Patrick’s, Mother Teresa (pictured with my predecessor Sr Kieran Mongan) later visited the convent where afternoon tea was served for her in one of the parlours which is now the office of Mesdames Kelly and Ward. I often tell the Year 7 students that she climbed the Tower, but this was not really the case. I am also led to believe that the Sisters were disappointed that she did not partake in the afternoon tea they had so meticulously prepared. However, she was here and the rest, as they say, is history.

Damian Smith
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