Joyce Fenton

A glance back at my journey

I had my wish fulfilled when I was sent on mission to Papua New Guinea immediately after my first Profession in 1953. I taught in primary and secondary school there until the staff of the schools was nationalised after which I happily took on a pastoral ministry. It was my privilege also to work in our own community with the young professed Papua New Guinean Sisters as they began their ministries in some of the remote areas where our sisters were stationed.

Where do I carry out my ministry today?

I returned to Australia in 2002 and am now a resident at Delamore, our Retirement Community in Kedron. Although I drove trucks and rode motor bikes over some of the most daunting mountain roads in Papua New Guinea, I decided on coming home to opt for a motorised scooter which gave me the independence I desired without my having to deal with the hassles of the city traffic. In Papua New Guinea I took the opportunity of training as a Community Nurse and this drew me to undertake volunteer work as a carer where the family carer needed some respite. I am able also to minister the Sacrament of the Eucharist and to pray with the patient and so provide for a patient spiritually as well as physically.

What Franciscan values underpin how I minister?

For me the one thing that really matters is love because everything else that is needed comes with that. Jesus stressed loving one another so often and Paul reminds us that of all the virtues “these three remain: faith, hope and love; and the greatest if these is love” (1 Cor 13:13). 2 Celano 172 stresses that we should love our brothers and sisters “beyond measure” as Francis did (Omnibus 500-501). Compassion and service are major values for me, but they must have their source in love to be of any lasting spiritual value, and it is well recognised that even on the human level, love alone enables service and compassion to touch the heart of the other.

“Let them manifest their love in deeds.”

Rule of the Third Order Regular of St Francis Ch VII #23

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