Mary MacKillop isn’t the only Catholic whose stocks have risen in the past few days, at least according to one young Dubbo schoolgirl.
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A crowd estimated between 2,500 and 3,000 congregated on Apex Oval yesterday for a mass celebrating last Sunday’s canonisation of St Mary.
The mass was primarily run by Catholic priest Father Paul Devitt, who earned the highest accolade possible from St John’s Primary School Kindergarten student Mia Johnston.
“My favourite part was when God held the cup out,” she told the Daily Liberal after the mass which drew a large crowd of adults, as well as children from all of Dubbo’s Catholic schools.
Fr Paul took the honour bestowed upon him by Mia with a smile.
“I’ve moved up in the world. Mary MacKillop has gone up a level and I have gone up with her,” he joked.
On the serious side, yesterday’s mass was an event six months in the planning, organised by the religion co-ordinators of the various schools.
Fr Paul described the hour-long mass as a fitting celebration of St Mary of the Cross, who worked hard in the area of education during her life.
“We just wanted to celebrate the canonisation,” he said
“We couldn’t be at Rome and because she is Australia’s first saint we wanted to celebrate it in a big way.
“Given her focus was education we thought we would get our schools together and celebrate with them.
“For me it was better to celebrate it in Dubbo with the people of my community.
“Mary MacKillop came to Dubbo on her travels through the diocese and Julian Tenison Woods, the co-founder of the order, preached the first ever retreat in St Brigid’s Church.
“One of the amazing things for us in the older generation, is that she appealed to the younger generations, particularly young women which is a great thing.”
