The work of Pastoral Healthcare Network is inspired by the charisms and works of some of Australias great pioneers -:

Catherine McAuley 

Catherine McAuley was born into a reasonably well off  family but learned early in her life what it meant to be poor as she accompanied her father in his regular visits to assist the struggling, poverty stricken poor of Dublin in the 19th  century. After her fathers death Catherine experienced personally the hardships of not having the necessities of life. A Quaker couple who needed someone to care for them took Catherine into their home, and her gentle, kind, compassionate manner led her to becoming the beneficiary of their considerable fortune. With this she fulfilled her life-long dream of  building a House of Mercy to provide selter for the poor women and young girls of Dublin, and to enable them to be trained to earn a living with dignity.   When it became clear to Catherine that in order to give her work  stability she must become a religious, she  founded Sisters of Mercy in 1831.

Blessed Mary Mc Killop

Declared Australias first Saint on December 20th 2009. Foundress of the Sisters of St Joseph, Mary as well as being extremely compassionate,  was strong willed. She stood up for what she believed, which brought her into conflict with religious leaders.

Caroline Chisholm -

who was renowned for her charitable work at a personal and public level and for the social reforms and improvements she achieved in the 19th century.

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TODAY our work is supported by the following Panel of Patrons.

 Sr Carmel O’Dwyer

Carmel O’Dwyer is a Sister of Mercy of the Melbourne Congregation and until 2001, her ministry was in secondary education, with 24 years as Principal of 3 Colleges. Her last educational appointment was to Sacred Heart College, Geelong. Carmel served on several Victorian education committees and the Mercy Health & Aged Care Rice Village  Advisory Board.

After working for some time in her Congregation’s archives, Carmel was appointed as the first Pastoral and Liturgical Co-ordinator for 3 Catholic parishes being linked in a Cluster arrangement. It was here she met and came to greatly admire the ministry of newly appointed  Pastoral Nurse, Leonie Rastas. In 2006 she retired from the Cluster to help care for 2 of her immediate family diagnosed with cancer, and in doing this, experienced first hand the role of a Pastoral Nurse.

Three of Carmel’s father’s sisters were St. John of God Sisters. They were Sisters Ambrose, Vincent and Genevieve .Sr Genevieve died in 2003, in her 100th year. Between them they would have nursed for over 150 years and they had always impressed Sr Carmel by their holistic approach to nursing, with its clear parallels to today’s Pastoral Nursing practice.

It was these two influences that caused Carmel to embrace Pastoral Nursing through the Health Ministry Advisory Team and in 2006 as a Board Member of the Lighthouse Inter -Church Health Ministries Inc

In 2007 Carmel accepted the position of  Patron of the Pastoral arm of LICHM,  Pastoral Healthcare Services, and today remains Patron of the renamed Pastoral Healthcare Network Australia PHNA.

Monsignor James Murray

Monsignor James Murray was ordained to the priesthood and has served in the Archdiocese of Melbourne for the past 59 Years.
In his early ministry he served as private Secretary to Archbishop Justin Simmonds and Archbishop James Knox.
In 1968 he was appointed Parish Priest of St Mary’s Geelong and Episcopal Vicar of the Geelong region.
Since his retirement in April 2001 he has continued being actively involved in community groups. He is a member of the Geelong Catholic Social Justice group, Chairman of the Geelong InterFaith network and a member of the Geelong No Interest Loan scheme.
Monsignor Murray has been associated with the Geelong Pastoral Healthcare Network for the past 4 years and has provided wonderful pastoral support and leadership. ‘

Clara Geoghegan

Clara Geoghegan BA, BTheol, GradDidEd PhD(cand)

Clara has extensive experience in spiritual gift discernment through teaching the Called and Gifted workshop. She is Called and Gifted Coordinator for the Archbishop’s Office for Evangelisation (Melbourne). Clara is co-director of the Siena Institute, Australia which is the provider of Called and Gifted Workshops across Australia. Clara is also a sessional lecturer in Spirituality and Church History at Catholic Theological College Melbourne. One of her principal research interests is the life and work of Australian pioneer and social reformer, Caroline Chisholm.