When I received this book for review my initial response was, ‘not another book on Mary MacKillop’, but I found this biography a fresh approach on the life of Mary and the Josephite order.
Perhaps the reason I found this book so interesting was that Fr Moodystack deals only with the facts, he uses correspondence, media reports and official Church documents to create an historical account of the life of Mary MacKillop.
For instance, he dwells only briefly on Mary’s childhood, and makes assumptions about the MacKillop family life based on the correspondence of family members during that time, and later on when Mary herself had time to reflect on her own experiences of childhood.
Another element in this biography is that Fr Moodystack goes to great lengths to flesh out some of the other major players in Mary MacKillop’s life and gives more insight into the political and social tensions that existed in the colonies due to the differing nationalities – English, Scottish, Irish – that had immigrated to Australia. He is also able to show the motivations and reasons behind the decisions that were made at that time, including Mary’s excommunication.
‘Mary MacKillop: a woman before her time’ is also doubly good because it is not only a biography of Mary, but gives a detailed account of the history of the order including the creation of Rule itself. He also details the many problems that arose for the order in the time of Mary’s life and the way that was handled by not only Mary, but the other players around her including bishops, spiritual directors and non Catholic benefactors and supporters.
All in all, this is possibly one of the best biographies I have read on Mary MacKillop because Fr Moodystack deals only with the historical information that exists and does not try to create his own idea of Mary, or idealise her in anyway. This is the factual Mary – not an imagined one.
This is truly a riveting read. I thought I had a fair idea of Mary MacKillop’s life, but this book proved there was a lot I didn’t know! I recommend this to everyone aged 13 or older who wants to learn more about Australia’s first saint.
Originally posted 2014-09-25 22:31:45.