Farewell to Iona Presentation Sisters Convent
Thursday Week Twenty-Seven of Ordinary Time (Year B)

Homily

Most Rev Timothy Costelloe SDB
Archbishop of Perth

Thursday 9 October, 2025
Iona Presentation Sisters Convent, Mosman Park

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Many of you here this morning will have a much better idea of the long history of the Presentation Sisters here at Iona College than I do. After all, so many of you, and in particular of course the sisters, have not simply read about this history in a book or on the website of the College: you have lived this history and are part of this history - and this College and its history are a part of you. The groups to which we belong, the institutions of which we are a part, and in particular, of course, the people with whom we share our lives form us and shape us in profound ways. 

This is surely true of the many thousands of women who spent some of their formative years as students here in the College. It is equally true of all those who as teachers or support staff have spent so much of their lives here at the College. It is true of the families who chose this school for their daughters and who have supported the school in so many different ways over such a long time. 

But it seems to me that in a very particular and unique way it is true for those women who as members of the Presentation Sisters have lived and worked, hoped and prayed, laughed and cried, as they have served the God they have loved by serving the children and young people who were and are so loved by God. You, sisters, have been formed and shaped by your own community and Congregation, by the vibrant life of this College, and in a very particular way also by your convent and chapel within the College walls which has been the home for so many of you for such a long time.

For nearly 120 years, the presence of the sisters, living in the convent in the very heart of the school, has been a powerful, vibrant and steadying reminder of a conviction which is the foundation on which this College rests: that God exists, that God matters, that God’s love can fill a life completely, and that the God who is made known in Jesus Christ can bring meaning and hope to every person. This was the conviction that led Nano Nagle to strike out bravely into the poverty-stricken streets of Cork to bring the light and hope of Christ, symbolised by the lantern which she carried with her into the darkness of people’s poverty and pain. It was the conviction that led the first Presentation Sisters to travel from Ireland to Australia to bring God’s compassion, as Nano Nagle had done, to those who needed it most. It was the conviction that ensured that for nearly 120 years the sisters, planted as it were in the very heart of the College, would keep alive the burning flame of Nano’s love for all God’s children.

There is something very beautiful and very powerful, isn’t there, about a group of women who, with great courage and great steadfastness, would set themselves the task of creating a community which would be a shining example of both the beauty and the challenge of the Christian life.

As a religious myself, I know that individual religious women and men are not perfect and that religious communities, like all of us, sometimes struggle to be faithful to the high ideals of our faith. This is the reality of every Christian’s life. But the Presentation Sisters, who have made the convent here at Iona a home where they have constantly strived to be faithful witnesses to the gospel, will surely recognise themselves in this beautiful passage from one of St Paul’s letters:

 As God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

While today we are not saying goodbye to the sisters - some of you, after all, will be living across the road - we have wanted to join with you today, as you say farewell to the convent which has been your home, and to the chapel which has been at the very heart of your faithful religious life, to assure you of our very deep affection and our profound gratitude for the gift that your presence, your witness as faithful women of the gospel, has been for all of those people who have been and are a part of the community which is Iona Presentation College. At the same time this morning’s celebration is,  as we recognise in your witness a living example of what the Christian life should be all about,  a God-given opportunity for all of us to commit our lives once again to being faithful bearers of this gospel way of life, and to bring it alive in our own lives and families.

The whole College, of course, is itself a living testament to the sisters. I hope that in some way, as the College now assumes responsibility for the care of that part of the College facilities which has been the sisters’ home, there may be a way of reminding the students and the staff that as they pass through what used to be the convent  they are walking on sacred ground. Thank you, sisters, for creating this sacred space, this sacred place, in our midst and in especially our hearts.