I often meet our local Brigidine sisters around Mentone, and last week I ran into Sr Veronica Joyce, on the Parade, heading for the shops. We chatted about her sister’s recent induction as a Kilbreda Past Pupil of Distinction, before Veronica revealed that she was the only Brigidine she knew, who had built a church!

St Aloysius Catholic Church in Moama, New South Wales, was officially blessed and opened on 30 April 1999, by The Most Reverend Barry Collins, Bishop of Wilcannia-Forbes.

The construction of the church was overseen by Sister Veronica, when she held the position as Parish Coordinator, in the absence of a Parish Priest. Veronica had spent her first 12 years in schools, before moving to ‘parish work’ in the early 1970s, which she continued until her retirement.

In 2021, Sister Veronica was among the jubilarians celebrated for 60 years of religious life, during the Brigidine Sisters’ St Brigid’s Day gathering. The event included a Eucharist at St Joseph’s in Malvern, followed by a celebratory lunch, marking various sisters’ decades of commitment and service. Veronica and Rosemarie Joyce, along with their five sisters, were boarders at Kilbreda. Veronica finished in 1957. She was professed in December 1960 at Malvern, along with other Kilbreda past pupils Margaret Cassidy, Loretta Brennan, Deirdre Malone, Aileen Vear, Alexia Riddington, John Spurr and Rosemary Kerlin.

Damian Smith

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