Faith and miracles in Pambula: The enduring legacy of Mary MacKillop

Every night at around 9pm, a group of women – each in their own home – go to their rooms and pray, through the intercession of Mary MacKillop, for the sick, the dying, and the needy in their Pambula parish community.

“That’s every single night for almost twenty years,” Margaret Liston said.

“A miracle happened here with the way God looked after the body of Mary MacKillop’s mother, and the miracles are still happening today.”

The prayer group started when Margaret’s daughter, Kate, was in a terrible car accident.

“The car ran off the road in the pouring rain,” Margaret said.

“She had three haemorrhages to the brain, and they did not expect her to live.”

Kate was unconscious in a Canberra hospital for three days, and then she woke up, looked at Margaret and said, ‘Mum.’

“I thought, oh, she remembers who I am!” Margaret said.

“Then, when I went back to Pambula, a lady told me she and others had been praying for Kate. They had prayed for her on the very same day she woke up.”

Margaret told the nuns that she would like to start a Mary MacKillop prayer group, and they gave her a novena.

“We have prayed for so many people now,” she said.

“There have been so many miracles now – people who have been told there is no way they could live, and they have suddenly recovered.”

The prayer list used to be quite long, but Margaret is pruning it back now, as so many people have recovered.

“I think we will do it forever,” she said.

“It is the power of a lot of people praying together. It is a powerful prayer group, and I think those prayers are heard.”

Fran Peterie joined the group about ten years ago.

“My husband and I usually do the prayers together at night,” she said.

“There have been quite a few successes where people have been told they won’t survive, and they are still going now! It’s quite amazing. When we get a call from someone, and it is desperate, we all just start praying straight away.”

Fran said although it was a big commitment, there was solidarity among those praying.

“Pambula is a pretty amazing sort of parish,” she said.

“I am a retired nurse, and I have seen the power of prayer for those in a hospital setting. Every Sunday at Mass, Margaret gives us an update – she will say this person has a good report that person has recovered, and we can take them off the list. I think that is what makes us keep going. We want to keep praying for people.”

Fran said the prayer group felt lucky to have the local connection to Mary MacKillop.

“She is someone who actually walked the streets of Pambula,” she said.

“This feisty nun wanted to make a difference for poor people, for children – wanted them to get an education. People come from all around to make the pilgrimage, but we can just walk up to the church, and we are already walking in her footsteps.”