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Sr Joan Healy RSJ
Photo: Sr Joan Healy RSJAustralian Catholic University (ACU National) is proud to have awarded an Honorary Doctorate (honoris causa) to nurse, educator and community activist Josephite nun Sister Joan Healy RSJ at its Health Sciences graduation ceremony in Sydney on Tuesday 31 March 2009.
“This honour is to recognise her significant contributions to social work, particularly in supporting community-based care for children and families in need, both in Australia and overseas”, said ACU National Vice-Chancellor Professor Greg Craven.
Sister Joan chose to dedicate her life to helping others from an early age. Initially a school teacher, Sister Joan taught in many state schools in poorer north-western areas of Melbourne. Involved with the Young Christian Workers Movement during the late fifties, she left teaching to live and work among destitute and homeless young women.
Joining the Congregation of the Sisters of St Joseph, whose work from the time of Mary MacKillop was among communities of poor and struggling people, Sister Joan trained as a secondary teacher before studying for a Diploma of Social Studies and Psychology Honours degree at Melbourne University.
Sister Joan, based with her Josephite Sisters in an old convert in Footscray, worked to develop community models of child protection. Between 1975 and 1983 she documented feasibility studies of non institutional care for ‘children in need of protection’. .
Completing her appointment as Novice Director of the congregation in 1989, Sister Joan volunteered with the Jesuit Refugee Service in a camp of refugees on the Thai-Cambodia border. During the next decade she lived in rural Cambodia mentoring local leaders who worked to restore community life in the midst of on-going civil war.
Sister Joan’s community work has continued with her involvement with Aboriginal people in remote and urban communities, as well as her support for her congregation’s work in Peru and East Timor.
