GIVING someone a “fair go” is not just an Australian mantra to Sister Rosemary Terry – it’s the way she lives her vocation.
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Sister Rosemary, a member of the Society of Presentation Sisters in Wagga, has been awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to the Catholic Church and to the community.
For the past 24 years she has worked as a chaplain at the Junee Correctional Centre, a place where she sees the failings of people.
But it is a place where she also sees hope.
“I think it has enriched me a great deal,” Sister Rosemary said of her chaplaincy experience.
“It has given me more understanding of people and their struggles.”
Sister Rosemary said she had been motivated to become a prison chaplain by the spirit of Nano Nagle, the founder of the Presentation Sisters in Ireland in 1775.
She said her work involved giving inmates hope, letting them know someone cares and giving them respect.
“We need to respect people, I think a lot of that is missing from today’s society,” Sister Rosemary said.
“I think it is a case of trying to support and encourage (inmates) but at the same time challenging them to look at what is causing their offending behaviour.”
Born at Oaklands, Rosemary Terry was educated at Urana and Wagga before joining the Presentation Sisters in 1961.
After completing her novitiate, Sister Rosemary trained as a teacher and taught for 20 years in Wagga (St Mary’s, Maria Goretti and Sacred Heart), Hay, Berrigan and Sydney.
“And then I went to jail,” Sister Rosemary said with a laugh.
With the opening of the Junee Correctional Centre in 1993, Sister Rosemary rang the chaplain there and asked if she could work as a volunteer.
The needs of the prison and Sister Rosemary’s teaching skills were like a match made in heaven.
“She (the chaplain) said literacy and numeracy were a big need, and so I went out just a couple of afternoons a week,” Sister Rosemary said.
“After a while, the chaplain said she was finishing up and she asked me if I would like the job.”
Sister Rosemary has wound back her commitments at the jail to three days a week, but is still keen to support people in the prison system, especially those just released from jail or before the courts.
Sister Rosemary said learning of her honour had been a bit of a shock. “It’s a bit overwhelming, to be honest, it’s humbling,” she said.
“I feel I am receiving this award on behalf of a lot of people – the sisters in the Presentation congregation and the staff at the Junee Correctional Centre, all those I work with.”
Sister Rosemary takes great delight is seeing prisoners turn their lives around.
“You get your disappointments, but a lot of (released prisoners) get on with their lives,” she said.