Eight aspiring leaders gathered in Sydney recently for the first in-person sessions of the 2024-25 Young Catholic Women’s Fellowship, a unique program that equips female Catholics for missionary leadership.

Participants travelled from various locations including Perth, Adelaide, Townsville, Brisbane, Canberra and regional New South Wales for the March 7-10 gathering at Mary MacKillop Place and the Australian Catholic University (ACU), North Sydney.

On their first day together, Fellowship participants attended Mass in the beautiful Mary MacKillop Memorial Chapel, before commencing formation sessions focused on leadership and spiritual accompaniment. This included viewing the recently released Evangelise Plus series, Women’s Leadership, as a stimulus for reflection and discussion.

Frances Tilley from Jesuit and Ignatian Spirituality Australia (JISA) facilitated the afternoon session by introducing several ways the young women could be nourished by exploring spiritual direction, workplace supervision and mentoring.

“I loved engaging in Ignatian Spirituality for the first time. It was such a great opportunity to pause, digest and reflect,” Fellowship participant Sarah Gardiner said.

In the evening, the women were guests of ACU at an International Women’s Day event. Sr Allesandra Smirelli, Secretary of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development spoke via video from Rome on the theme, ‘Count her in: Women’s economic empowerment’.

This was followed by a panel discussion which included Fellowship alumni Natalia Teguhputri, co-founder of the Waterjars Movement and member of the Economy of Francesco.

Fellowship participants attended ACU on Saturday and Sunday for the commencement of their first academic unit, ‘Mission: Transforming the World’ with lecturer Dr Sandie Cornish. In this unit, students will be exploring contemporary mission theology and Catholic social teaching, addressing the social dimension of mission, together with its implications for women’s leadership in the Church and society.

On Saturday evening the students attended Mass at St Francis Xavier Church, Lavender Bay and were then hosted for dinner by Loreto Sisters Rachel McLoughlin and Jwan Kada.

Fellowship participant Ashley Carvalho, from Brisbane, said the student gathering was a wonderful way to begin the program.

“Being together in person enabled us to foster a true sense of connection and community which will serve as a wonderful foundation for the remainder of the Fellowship,” Ashley said.

The young women will now be focusing on their academic studies, gathering in a few months’ time for further online formation sessions.

You can learn more about the Young Catholic Women’s Fellowship here. You can also read about the eight young women in the current cohort in The Bridge.