AUCKLAND The centenary of Blessed Mary MacKillop’s death will be celebrated throughout New Zealand in August. The Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart and the Sisters of St Joseph of Nazareth in Aotearoa New Zealand will come together in Auckland on the weekend of August 7-9.

The sisters are planning a weekend of sharing on Mary MacKillops spirit and spirituality in Mission Bay. Both congregations were founded by Mary MacKillop and Fr Julian Tenison Woods in Australia.

Mary MacKillop died in Sydney on August 8, 1909. She was beatified by Pope John Paul II in January 1995.

Sr Colleen Keeble, the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart provincial, said the congregations are looking forward to this occasion of celebrating our common heritage as we remember with gratitude Mary’s extraordinary life and the ways her spirit has touched our lives here in Aotearoa New Zealand.

A Mass will be celebrated at 2pm on August 8 at St Michael’s Church, Remuera an area Mary MacKillop visited and stayed in several times.

Masses will also be celebrated at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in Christchurch on August 13 and in Hamilton on August 23.