Hidden Seasons to New Spaces 

This blog is an article for the Together Paper of Wagga Wagga Diocese May Edition.

The past few weeks have felt marked by milestones, new spaces and deep gratitude, after a long season of perseverance and uncertainty. On a personal front, thank you to all those who have been supporting our work practically and spiritually over the years. One deeply personal milestone came on April 29, marking the end of a very long marathon.  

From deportation to becoming an Australian Citizen.  

I’m so grateful for all the people in the faith community who held me in their prayers over the many years, fought for me in spaces I couldn’t access, and showed me their love and support. Despite the uncertainty of not knowing what tomorrow would look like, you helped me remain steady in what God was asking of me during that season. My heartfelt gratitude to you! 

It felt fitting that after such a long and difficult season, God would provide new opportunities for mission and conversations in the most unexpected ways. I was invited to be a keynote speaker and panellist in Sydney for the Behaviour and Diverse Learning Symposium by Catholic Schools NSW. The room was filled with executives, leadership, coordinators, and policy writers within the state Catholic Education Sector. What made the opportunity significant was the willingness to consider how Virtue Formation contributes to some of the most sensitive and confronting areas within our curriculums and school culture – consent, respectful relationships, sex and sexuality education, resilience and human flourishing. 

I was privileged to share from our close to 10 years of learning in Virtue Formation, alongside my therapeutic work with high conflict families and couples, and contribute to the broader conversation around how we cultivate genuinely healthy relationships within our schools and communities. Encounters like these leave me increasingly hopeful that Virtue Formation is finding its place within larger and deeply needed conversations across our education system. 

Directly after the keynote, I was invited to join a Panel Discussion on cultivating resilience and human flourishing within our schools and wider communities. It was refreshing to be part of a room willing to wrestle with these deeper questions rather than remaining solely at the level of behaviour and outcomes. I was grateful to share the panel alongside respected voices in education, research and leadership, nationally and internationally, including Tom Bennett OBE, Shawn Van Der Linden and David Hurley, with the discussion moderated by Dallas McInerney, CEO of Catholic Schools NSW. 

Following on from here came another set of Seminary Formation sessions focused on Integrity and self-knowledge. The senior seminarians never cease to amaze me with the connections they are making and the way they are applying the work over time. They have become so accustomed to the process of formation that rather than me needing to prompt them into reflection, they now make connections that pleasantly stump me. 

It’s deeply encouraging to watch a person begin to internalise formation in this way. Moments where a seminarian makes an effortless connection you had never considered before, leave you with the sense that this is someone who has truly entered well into the work of formation. 

There is something profoundly hopeful about witnessing a future priest genuinely enter into the work of formation. To see a person become more self-aware and grounded over time is a gift not only for them personally, but for the whole Church. It reminds me that some of the most important work God does is often slow, hidden and deeply relational. 

Moments like these have left me increasingly aware of how much fruit God can bring from years of hidden labour, perseverance and faithful formation. 

As Virtue Ministry approaches a milestone anniversary, alongside the recent inauguration of our Adult Formation Program, it feels important to pause and mark this new chapter with gratitude. 

So, we have a Save the Date for you:

October 10 from 6pm in Wagga Wagga 

Tickets and details will be released soon, but for now we warmly invite you to save the date and celebrate with us. Celebrate the years of labour, the fruit that has emerged along the way, the participants completing the inaugural year of our Adult Formation Program, and this new chapter for Virtue Ministry. 

Most importantly, it will be an opportunity for us to thank the many people who have supported, encouraged and prayed for this work. This apostolate was never built alone.