Sr Louise McKeogh appointed Provincial of Salesian Sisters

By Mary Brazell, 7 November 2019
Sr Louise McKeogh FMA during her farewell afternoon tea. Image: Mary Brazell/Diocese of Parramatta.

 

Sr Louise McKeogh FMA will farewell the Diocese of Parramatta to take up a leadership position in her religious order.

Sr Louise, a member of the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians (FMA), more commonly known as the Salesian Sisters, was recently appointed as Provincial of the South Pacific Region by Mother General Yvonne Reungoat.

Sr Louise served the Diocese as its Social Justice Coordinator and Caritas Diocesan Director for seven-and-a-half years.

“I have a mixture of feelings [about my appointment],” Sr Louise told Catholic Outlook. “[There’s] excitement at a new challenge and I think it’s a sacred space to journey with each of the sisters and facilitate the ministry that happens in Australia, in Samoa and in the Solomon Islands. To walk together and collaboratively set the direction and goals for our ministry for the next six years with the leadership team, so that’s very exciting.

“There’s also a tinge of sadness, because I’ve loved what I’ve been doing here in the Parramatta Diocese in the Social Justice Office, and it’s been a very life-giving and rewarding ministry for me personally,” she said.

Professing her final vows in 1996, Sr Louise worked in youth ministry, early childcare and assisting Indigenous communities before applying for the Social Justice Coordinator position in February 2012.

A farewell afternoon tea was held for Sr Louise on Tuesday 22 October at St Patrick’s Cathedral Hall, Parramatta.

Bishop Vincent Long OFM Conv, Bishop of Parramatta, members of the Diocese of Parramatta Chancery and representatives of the various social justice networks she has formed were in attendance to give thanks for her ministry.

“It is with a tinge of sadness that we’ve come here to farewell Sr Louise, and wish her every blessing for her new responsibility,” Bishop Vincent said during the afternoon tea.

“They often say ‘good things some in small packages’, and it’s so true of Sr Louise. What a dynamo you are, with a heart and passion for justice.

“Your departure will be greatly missed. We are all very grateful, very appreciative of you and your ministry of service, your passion for God’s kingdom, above all, your love, your goodness [and] your contemplative spirit. We all wish you God’s speed and every blessing in your new appointment,” Bishop Vincent said.

Sr Louise will oversee the mission of the Salesian Sisters in the South Pacific Region – which includes Australia, Samoa and the Solomon Islands – from 2020 until 2025.

View images from Sr Louise’s farewell afternoon tea here or below.
Sr Louise McKeogh Farewell Afternoon Tea (22.10.19)

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