Sisters in Mother McKillop’s order celebrate:

IN Mount St, North Sydney, last Friday, at the headquarters of the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart – the order formed by Mary McKillop in 1866 and otherwise known from the colour of the sisters’ habits as the Brown Joeys – 42 nuns celebrated the 50th anniversary of taking their vows.

Imagine that: 42 women joining a single religious order in a single year and adhering for half a century to undertakings to be poor, chaste and obedient.

In fact, the 42 began on January 6, 1956, as 48. Five have died. Only one left the order. In 2006 this also seems remarkable.