There is is a saying that Sisters of St Joseph never retire and after almost six years as Brisbane archdiocese’s Vicar for Religious, Josephite Sister Moya Campbell is showing no signs of slowing down as she jets off across the ditch to start a new role in governance for the Josephite congregation in Auckland, The Catholic Leader reports.

Sr Moya Campbell RSJ at the door of St Stephen’s Chapel, saying farewell to the Brisbane Catholic community as she heads to New Zealand to start a new role this year. PHOTO: Joe Higgins/Catholic Leader.

She said New Zealand was a “bit of a change”, especially at her time in life, but she was looking forward to the challenge.

Sr Moya’s ministry in Auckland will see her offering care and support to the sisters, both those who were still in ministry and the aging.

The woman from Miles said it had been a wonderful and challenging experience working to support Brisbane’s religious in the clergy support office.

“I will certainly miss the people I’m working with over here,” she said.

“I’ll miss the contact with the religious congregations, (and) just being part of the Church at this level.

“You don’t realise until you become part of it how many people work behind the scenes to keep the whole Catholic community going.”

One of her aims as Vicar for Religious had been to unite Brisbane archdiocese’s spiritual directors into one group and, in the process of achieving that, she was surprised to discover there were 81 spiritual directors in total.

The spiritual directors group had met a number of times already and she said it had been brilliant to see them all together.

She had also enjoyed her time as a spiritual director herself; it had been a privilege to “move with people in their lives”.

She hoped she had made a difference to their lives “because they’ve certainly made a difference to mine”.

In Josephite fashion, teaching had been part of her life for a long time.

Sr Moya has taught “all over” – from Mount Isa to Cairns to Brisbane, both primary and secondary schooling.

Since entering the convent in Brisbane in 1964, she has seen “big changes” in the Church.

“I’ve got a great hope that something will happen with the Plenary Council for the good of the whole Church and the good of the community,” she said.

“That’s probably what I hope … that we begin to really listen to one another and together grow in the whole message of Jesus.

“What Jesus was preaching was pretty radical in his day, so it’s kind of that radical response that is still needed.”

This is an abridged form of an article published in The Catholic Leader. Click here to read the full article.