ENGADINE
Engadine is a hilly, southern suburb of Sydney. In 1959 four Salesian Sisters opened a convent and St John Bosco Primary School in the Salesian parish there. For some years now the school is run by a lay principal and staff who, together with parents and children have continued to create a vibrant Salesian family atmosphere.
Four Sisters and one novice form the Engadine community. The community leader is also the novice formator. The community is involved with young people in a variety of activities, age groups and settings.
St Maria Mazzarello Novitiate
The novitiate of the Salesian Sisters of the South Pacific Region is at Engadine. It is dedicated to St. Maria Domenica Mazzarello, the first Salesian Sister and co-foundress of the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians. The novitiate is a two-year period where the young women deepen their understanding of their call from God and where they discern if God is calling them to live their lives in consecrated vowed life as Salesian Sisters.
Together with their religious studies the novices work voluntarily in St John Bosco Primary School, in the parish youth groups and religious education.
At the end of a two-year period the novice and the Congregation of the Salesian Sisters are able to discern whether the novice is ready to make her first profession as a Salesian Sister.
Sr Hieu Luong
Sr Hieu Luong is the Community Leader and also Novice Formator. She teaches the novices FMA Constitutions, Human Development, Scriptures, Morality, and Mariology. Sr Hieu also assists in Faith Formation for School Youth Group 3:16 and supports the Engadine Parish Youth Group.
Sr Jennifer Doudle
Sr Jennifer Doudle is the Community Bursar. She is also a part-time Teacher's Aide at St. John Bosco Parish Primary School, Engadine and assists our novices with English lessons.
Sr Edna Mary McDonald
Sr Edna Mary McDonald teaches our novices FMA Spirituality, Church History, and aspects of the Catholic Church. She also assists in the Initial Formation Program of the SPR Province. Internationally, she is the Chair of the FMA ETG (English Translation Group) and a member of the Project Mornese Facilitation Team in the English language.
Sr Silvana Visentin
Sr Silvana Visentin blesses the Novitiate and the communities of sick and elderly people in the local area with her cheerful presence. She is a volunteer and regular visitor at Stella Maris Nursing Home, Cronulla, and St. Vincent's Care, John Paul village Nursing Home, Heathcote.
Sr Betty Pauromae
Sr Betty Pauromae is the First year FMA Novice of SPR Province. Besides studying in an intensive Novitiate program under Sr Hieu's leadership, Sr Betty is also having apostolic experiences by volunteering at St. John Bosco Primary School in Engadine, involving in Faith Formation for School Youth Group 3:16 and participating in Parish Youth Group.