December

Six Sisters of Mercy and a Marist priest from one family

In the Celebrating 90 Years section of the July MM, it was mentioned on p. 41 that in the February 1942 issue, six daughters from the McDonnell family of Greymouth became Sisters of Mercy, a son became a Marist priest, the eighth wanted to become a religious but decided instead to look after her mother, and that “no mention was made of what happened to the ninth child”. A reader, Mrs Neroli Kay, wrote, “I can tell you that the ninth child was Edward, my grandfather. He married Emily Roche and they had 8 children, one of whom was my father Stan. Emily (Roche) McDonnell had a brother, Father James Roche SM, and a sister, Veronica, who became a Sister of Mercy, Sister M Therese”.

A new parish in Digos, Philippines

On 8 September 2019, Bishop Guillermo Afable of Digos, Philippines, installed Fr Christopher Ganzon SM as parish priest and Fr Pat Muckian SM as parish vicar of the newly erected parish of Our Lady of Fatima in Matti, Digos City. Marists in the district of Asia have ministered in the diocese since 2004.