After more than 30 years of unwavering service, Sr Mary O’Shannassy SGS has retired from her role as senior chaplain of the CatholicCare prison ministry team in Victoria. Source: Melbourne Catholic.
Sr Mary is the longest serving prison chaplain and the only female to have held that leadership role in Victoria.
In recognition of her outstanding service, Melbourne Archbishop Peter A Comensoli presented Sr Mary with the Papal Cross of Honour – the highest honour the Pope can confer on an individual for their distinguished service to the Catholic Church.
The papal award was presented to Sr Mary on Tuesday at a gathering to celebrate her decades of service to the Victorian community.
A special Mass was held at St Patrick’s Cathedral, celebrated by Archbishop Comensoli, Sandhurst Bishop Shane Mackinlay and the auxiliary bishops and clergy of the Melbourne Archdiocese.
Sr Mary has been a regular presence at the state’s 15 prisons and helped to establish a statewide chaplaincy team that now consists of six full-time chaplains, 10 volunteer chaplains, 60 volunteers and 40 priests.
Through CatholicCare Victoria’s chaplaincy services, thousands of women and men, or “residents” as Sr Mary calls them, are provided with emotional, spiritual, sacramental and pastoral support during their time in prison and as they return to society.
In 2017, Sr Mary was awarded the Order of Australia Medal (OAM) for her service to the community through Church and social welfare bodies, and in 2021 she was conferred with an Honorary Doctorate from Australian Catholic University in recognition of her loving service to people imprisoned in Victoria and for her leadership in chaplaincy.
Sr Mary describes her ministry as a “privilege” – a way to help people experience “acceptance” and to see themselves as worthy of God’s love.
“Our dear Pope Francis, who just four days before he died visited prisoners in a prison near the Vatican, frequently spoke of the Church as a ‘field hospital’ – a place where people’s wounds should be healed and their hearts warmed,” Sr Mary said.
“My experience has been that prisons are among those field hospitals.”
An important part of Sr Mary’s legacy is that every prison in Victoria is now home to a sacred space – a “sanctuary”– which she believes is integral to the residents’ journey of transformation.
“These places, these chapels, are different from any other place in a prison and are valued by the residents,” Sr Mary said.
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Sr Mary O’Shannassy SGS receives highest papal honour (Melbourne Catholic)
