Good Samaritan Sister Veronica Hoey has been appointed Canonical Delegate for the Missionary Sisters of Service (MSS), a role she says she is privileged to undertake as a companion to the Sisters on their journey towards completion and fulfilment as a religious congregation, reports The Good Oil.

Melbourne Archbishop Peter A Comensoli issued a decree on 10 October this year appointing Veronica as the Canonical Delegate for the MSS for the next three years.

At the announcement of Sister Veronica Hoey's new role, from left: Mary O’Dea, Prof Gabrielle McMullen AO, David Alcock, Archbishop Peter A Comensoli, Sister Stancea Vichie MSS, Sister Veronica Hoey SGS, Sister Bernadette Wallis MSS, Glenn De Souza and Sauro Antonelli. PHOTO: Melbourne Catholic.

Sister Stancea Vichie MSS, who had been the Congregational Leader and is now one of two consultors to Veronica along with Sister Bernadette Wallis MSS, said the appointment followed a 14-year period of discernment for the MSS.

“We knew a long time ago that we were not going to have sufficient Sisters to elect to a leadership team,” she said.

“After a lot of chats with various canon lawyers and through the support of the Emerging Futures Collaborative, we were eventually able to see who could potentially take on this role. When we saw Veronica’s name, we were delighted because we’ve known Veronica for some time.”

Veronica, who has long experience in governance and leadership and is Vicar for Religious in the Archdiocese of Melbourne, said she was pleased to accept the invitation to be Canonical Delegate for the MSS and is looking forward to being a part of the journey with the Sisters.

“When I was talking with the Sisters about whether I was a good fit for this role I said I felt I was, simply by being a Good Sam. Over the years, many of the MSS have ministered alongside Good Sams in Whyalla, Toowoomba and North Queensland. So, there has been a very long neighbourly connection. And now I, too, have been welcomed as neighbour.

“We are both homegrown congregations and I think we are both resilient, ‘can-do’ types of women. I see us as people of common sense, adaptable and with a practical approach to the emerging realities in our congregations. I’ve certainly come to appreciate that even more through the collaboration with Stancea and Bernadette in their journey of discernment, to which I was privy.”

Both Veronica and Stancea said the role of Canonical Delegate was one of canonical oversight rather than taking on the day-to-day operational work of a Congregational Leader. As consultors, Bernadette and Stancea will be available to support Veronica with any decision-making and advice.

Veronica will also represent the MSS in official contexts and help work through any canonical issues that might arise along the way.

The MSS Stewardship Council is soon to become a Board under the new governance model and will continue to offer expert advice on various aspects of the ongoing life and mission of the MSS.

The MSS also established a mission entity, called Highways and Byways, to continue the Sisters’ vision and mission into the future. Established in 2010, it was formerly known as the John Wallis Foundation, named after the Hobart diocesan priest who founded the Missionary Sisters of Service.

Through its partnerships and small grants program, Highways and Byways seeks to support people and projects that express the particular character and spirit that has inspired the work of the MSS since 1944.

Stancea said the MSS Sisters are very grateful for the “wonderful staff and service provision” they receive through the Emerging Futures Collaborative, which is supporting increasing numbers of religious congregations in Australia.

Veronica said the role of the Canonical Delegate, officially known as a Commissary, is not new in the Church’s canon law, but its use in this way for overseeing the completion of religious congregations is a new expression of it. There are a number of congregations moving towards the appointment of Canonical Delegates.

“It’s a new form of governance for the Church, but it’s coming out of a lived reality, and responding to that lived reality,” she said.

“My role is to preserve and respect and hold the story and legacy of the MSS Congregation, to ensure that their Congregational Will is enacted, and that their spiritual patrimony is respected. I see it as a privileged role to be able to make this journey with them.”

To mark this significant change in governance, the MSS hosted an online ritual on 16 October with 40 people attending, including Sisters from across the various Australian cities and towns in which they live.

The Congregational Leader of the Sisters of the Good Samaritan, Sister Catherine McCahill, also attended, speaking of the “long and rich story of friendship and collaboration in ministry” between the Good Samaritans and Missionary Sisters of Service.

“We pray for the MSS and Sister Veronica as they continue to make the path by walking into the future towards fulfilment of their life and mission in Australia and beyond,” she said.

Veronica expressed her gratitude for the trust the MSS was placing in her by presenting Stancea with a jug symbolising the “bringing of the oil of compassion to each other and to those who most need our presence” which, she said, “is central in my own Good Samaritan Congregation’s life and mission”.

“I hope I will share my gifts gently and generously in serving the MSS for the Church and wider society in Australia. Our future is unknown, but may we all, with trust and confidence and great peace in our compassionate God, make the path by walking together into the future,” she said.

Stancea said the new structure gave the Missionary Sisters of Service a great sense of hope. “I think we’re going forward with real confidence, because we have very good structures in place in terms of our governance and care for our women,” she said.

“We have set up our Highways and Byways mission entity, and while there has been, naturally, some grief over a period of time, our women are extremely hopeful and accepting of this as our reality. It is likely that when the last Sister dies, we will have had roughly 100 years of presence in Australia, and a little bit beyond Australia, and that’s something for which to be extremely grateful.”

This article by Debra Vermeer was published in November edition of The Good Oil, the e-publication of the Sisters of the Good Samaritan.