Sister Mary McDonald sgs
Photo: Honorary Doctor - Mary McDonald with Chancellor (left) and Vice Chancellor (right)
ACU National honours Catholic education and women's leadership innovator
Australian Catholic University (ACU National) is proud to have awarded an honorary doctorate to Catholic educator, women's development advocate and environmentalist Sister Mary McDonald at its Education graduation ceremony in Brisbane on Tuesday 27 May.
Sister Mary McDonald has been an innovator and leader in Catholic education, serving as a teacher, principal, facilitator, consultant, ethicist, and role model for women in religious education.
She played a major role in the establishment of the Najara Centre for Spirituality and Ecology at Nambour as a centre of prayer, environmental care and adult education. She is also an active member of the Sunshine Coast Environment Council, having demonstrated on behalf of environmental justice.
For many years, Sister Mary McDonald has worked as a facilitator of congregations in their preparation for Chapter and congregational leadership. This work continues to engage her today as religious orders in Australia and overseas still seek her inspirational guidance and gentle leadership.
"Sister Mary McDonald's life, both religious and professional, has been exemplary. Her contribution to women's spiritual growth, through her role as the foundation president of Women and the Australian Church, as adviser to women's congregations and her role in the development of the schools of the Good Samaritan sisters, in addition to her leadership in education as principal, Director of a diocesan office and Chair of an archdiocesan council, and her inspired contribution to the movement linking spirituality and ecology, mark her as an extraordinary figure of the Catholic Church in Australia," said ACU National Vice-Chancellor Professor Greg Craven.
In the mid nineteen eighties Sister Mary McDonald was appointed to the role of Director of Education for the diocese of Townsville, a position she held for almost a decade. During this time Catholic Education expanded in significant ways in the diocese. Sister Mary McDonald also completed her doctoral studies during this period, focussing on women in administration in Catholic Education.
"Sister Mary McDonald's religious, professional and academic lives have gone hand in hand throughout her career. She has been active in assisting religious, especially women's congregations, in the discernment processes that have characterised their ongoing renewal formation," added Professor Craven.
Sister Mary McDonald is currently Chair of the Education Council for the Archdiocese of Brisbane, an educational consultant, an international religious consultant, an ethicist, and an influential figure in the direction of the Good Samarian Colleges' social justice programs. Sister Mary McDonald is a member of the national Good Samaritan Education Council, the International Benedictine Education Commission and the University of the Sunshine Coast Human Ethics Committee. She also continues her voluntary work with the Buddhist-sponsored home palliative care organisations Karuna and Cittimani
