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SR AILEEN MOLONEY RSM

PEER YEAR 1948

Earlier this year we had the pleasure of catching up with Aileen as she celebrates her 70th year as a Sister of Mercy. Now at 91 years of age, she recalls with great detail memories of her life as a Sister of Mercy and as a pupil of St Ann’s College.

Growing up in Terang, Aileen boarded at St Ann’s from 1944-47 commencing at today’s Year 9, where she relished the opportunity to develop her abilities on the piano. Aileen shares,

“Music gave me great confidence as a child. We lost our mother when we were very young. She died very suddenly one morning, and my father was left with ten children. The eldest were teenagers. I was number 7, and I was 7 years of age.

“When you’ve got something that you’re good at, it gives a boost to your confidence. Because there’s a lot of confidence that you don’t quite have, when you don’t have your mother. So the music was a great blessing. I was able to use it all of my life.

"I would say that those music teachers [at St Ann’s] taught me a lot about the theory and musical perception, which proved a tremendous help to me later in life.”

“I always say that once I’d stepped over that threshold, it was right. All the doubts flew. Somehow I was just suddenly happy.”

A typical school day at St Ann’s in the 40’s was very different from those experienced by Emmanuel College students today. Routines were strictly maintained by the Sisters who taught at the school, and resources were rationed due to the impacts of World War II. Aileen describes,

“You were called out of your bed, hail, rain or shine, at 6 o’clock every morning. Except on Saturday morning when you got a sleep-in until 6:30am. You got dressed very quickly, and went downstairs to the big school. If you were not put down for some piano practice, then you went in to study. At roughly 10 to 7, you had your beret and your prayer book ready, and together we’d walk around to the Chapel. If it was raining and cold, they allowed us to go through the Convent, but you weren’t allowed to be looking around. So we’d look at the floor.

“School started at 9, and they mostly started with Religion, then the various subjects followed. Among others, we studied French and I loved it.

“The school day would come to an end, and you could have about an hour’s recreation, then the big bell rang and we all came into the boot room and you cleaned your shoes.

“After the evening meal we would complete some study and then go into the Chapel and say the Rosary and there were some night prayers, and then we’d have recreation until about 9 o’clock at night.”

“If you were lucky, you had a bath twice a week. If you were lucky. Otherwise you washed in the cold water. Upstairs in the dormitories, you were not supposed to speak. Of course we did though, and when you could, you’d have hijinks.

“But I’d say in all, I suppose it was good character building. The ideals were very high. The nuns were strict.”

Immediately following school, Aileen entered the novitiate at Rosanna, in the face of many unknowns and reservations. However, on first entering the building it all changed. “I always say that once I’d stepped over that threshold, it was right. All the doubts flew. Somehow I was just suddenly happy.” Aileen highlights.

The strict routines and limited utilities of her years at St Ann’s made Aileen’s novitiate with the Sisters of Mercy a comparative breeze.

“I loved my novitiate at Rosanna, because I think I’d done my novitiate before I got there.” Aileen comments.

Inspired by her elder sister Margaret who worked as a nurse in Melbourne, Aileen originally envisaged ministering as a nurse, but very early in her novitiate, these thoughts began to shift towards teaching. A well- timed Sunday Gospel gave Sr Aileen the final motivation she needed to persist in convincing the superior Sisters that her change of heart was the right path to follow. “It’s a strange thing, the way God works. It amazes me.” she grins.

As a Sister of Mercy, Aileen started out teaching in primary schools, before moving onto secondary teaching. She has taught at schools in Casterton, Camperdown, Terang, and in Tasmania at schools in Burnie and Deloraine. Over these years in teaching, she saw the initial preparations for a number of College amalgamations, including the Marist Regional College in Burnie, Catholic Regional College in Camperdown (now Mercy Regional College) and was the Superior at St Ann’s Convent at the time of our own amalgamation.

After over 30 years in teaching, Aileen decided it was time to try something new and took a year out to study and moved into a ministry in pastoral care. This change in path led her back to Tasmania and working in the small and remote communities in and around Latrobe. “They were wonderful. It was a blessing.” Aileen says. “They had a wonderful community spirit.”

Aileen will be remembered by many alumni during her time ministering in Warrnambool West at St Pius X, and in Colac at St Mary’s Parish.

Throughout the many decades of Aileen’s quiet service to a number of communities, she highlights the impact and experience of the Vatican II Council above all. Under the leadership of Archbishop Guilford Young, Aileen embraced the opportunities for the Sisters of Mercy that the Council presented. “He was very dynamic. He would take us for whole weekends, and we’d go through Vatican documents. That just showed me a whole different face of the church. Directed and governed by the Spirit of the Lord.”

On behalf of the Emmanuel College community, we wish to congratulate Sr Aileen Moloney for 70 years of service as a Sister of Mercy.

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