THERE is a saying that Sisters of St Joseph never retire.
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.
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 Campbell’s ministry in Auckland would 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.”
There was no shortage of surprises in her role either.
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”.
“You do learn a lot teaching, you learn a tremendous amount about people,” she said.
“And when you’re working in this field, also you learn so much about people because it helps you as well as contributing to the support of the other person.”
In Josephite fashion, teaching had been part of her life for a long time.
Sr Campbell 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.”
Sr Campbell had also been inspired by the move towards “caring for the earth and caring for one another”.
She said care for the earth had always been important to her, especially coming from the country and recognising the difficulties of country living.
She had also taken big steps in her love for nature, having completed both the Aussie Camino from Portland to Penola and the Perth to New Norcia Benedictine Monastery walk.
In Perth were some of her family, too, whom she was meeting with before she left for New Zealand.
Sr Campbell was the eldest of 10.
She said she had always stayed “very close” with her family over the years and had been grateful for their support.
She was also grateful to everyone who supported her in Brisbane as she moves on to her new role in New Zealand in the coming months.
