by JEFF DILLON
DUNEDIN — Grey, damp conditions did not deter 100 people from undertaking a 15km St Mary MacKillop pilgrimage from North Dunedin to Port Chalmers on Sunday May 19.
The day began with 7.30am Mass at Holy Name Church in North Dunedin. A brochure set out details of the programme and highlights along the way, allowing those who needed to drive to meet up with walkers at key points.
The brochure spelt out the aim of the spiritual exercise in this Year of Faith.
“This is a pilgrimage to help us think more deeply about the faith of St Mary MacKillop and about our own faith.
“Thus we are pilgrims in our own land. Through reflection and song, we endeavour to live the faith with courage, like St Mary MacKillop and those who left their homelands and came to plant seeds of faith here in Aotearoa New Zealand.”
Participants were broken into four groups — of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.
The first key location was the former site of Holy Name School in the Otago University grounds. The school existed from the early 1930s and was staffed by sisters from the Josephite order that St Mary of the Cross MacKillop founded.
Going north from there, the pilgrims arrived at the Northern Cemetery and heard about faith in action, as demonstrated by Thomas Bracken, who was a contemporary of Mary MacKillop. Bracken, who wrote the words of our national anthem God Defend New Zealand, is buried in the cemetery. So too are some of the Parihaka prisoners who were brought to Dunedin.
Bracken had become an MP in 1881 and attacked the then government’s dealings with Parihaka Maori and advocated care of the displaced Maori. He was also an advocate for Catholic schools and helped establish the publication, The Tablet, in Dunedin.
Before Bracken died in 1898, Mary MacKillop would have been teaching 12km away in Port Chalmers.

The pilgrims headed up the hill to Opoho and across fields to reach a lunch spot. About 1pm, onto Sawyers Bay to the school grounds for a drink and another song before moving onto the highway to Port Chalmers.
At St Mary Star of the Sea Church in Port Chalmers, Benediction took place at 3pm. Mary MacKillop had taught at the school there and lived in Port Chalmers for two months.
Bishop Colin Campbell joined the group at Port Chalmers.
The pilgrims were supported by Dunedin diocesan priests Frs Mark Chamberlain and Gerard Aynsley and Rosminian priests Frs Michael Hill and Aidan Cunningham from Sacred Heart Parish.
Organisers later received much positive feedback, with one saying how great an experience it was to meet Catholics from all over Dunedin.