Sr Walburga Marchant

A Life of Compassion
…in the steps of Suzanne Aubert

At 80 years of age, after 60 years as a Sister of Compassion, Sister Mary Walburga is still busily working among the Maori people

In the Masterton parish, Sr Walburga faithfully follows the vocation Suzanne Aubert pioneered for her Sisters a century ago. Always have a place in your hearts and homes for the Maori people, she told them. Sr Walburga has spent much of her life living out that dictum.

But why 'Walburga'? The name too is a sort of link with Mother Aubert. The priest in Wellington who encouraged her to join the Sisters, Fr Creagh, had himself been a friend of Mother Aubert. Indeed it was he who had persuaded her to give the nuns at Island Bay an early morning cup of tea to fortify them for their long hours of hard work. Fr Creagh had had a sister who took that name as a Benedictine, but who died young. So, at his suggestion the new novice was given it. "And I'm stuck with it," she says with a smile. "I liked it from the beginning, since my mother was English". Walburga was a well-connected mediaeval English saint, the niece of St Boniface, the Apostle of Germany. "The old Sisters at Island Bay used to tease me because they thought it such a hilarious name. They'd call me 'Sister Wall-bugger!"', she added with a laugh.

Before she entered the convent she worked for a time in the school at Island Bay. She worked as a volunteer on the van which went round Wellington collecting, and she began to appreciate the vivid memory which Suzanne Aubert had left behind. Sr Anne, one of Mother Aubert's very first recruits, was in the community and became a close friend. "Mother Aubert was a very understanding person. She took a personal interest in people. For instance, Sr Stanislaus told her that when she had been sick, Mother Aubert asked her what she would fancy, and she replied, 'A rosy apple'. They were out of season; nevertheless Mother combed the city until she found one to give her. Nothing was too much trouble".

Walburga was brought up with strong Maori connections: a great uncle and aunt had both married Maoris, and her father worked among the Maoris in Manaia (Taranaki) and spoke the language. After her Novitiate in Wellington, Sister Walburga was sent up to Jerusalem on the Whanganui River to teach in the Sisters' school there, and also to be Procurator for the community.

"In Jerusalem I really became a Sister of Compassion. Jerusalem was everything that spelt Mother Aubert to me. The old Maori men all remembered her, and it was Mother Aubert who really established this sense of our 'belonging' to the Maori people. They became a part of you - and you became a part of their families. That was the way it felt then and it still is". Throughout her life - in Porirua and now in Masterton - she finds connections with Maori families that she first became a part of during her early years in Jerusalem.

The life of a Sister of Compassion was hard work in those days, but Walburga loved it. "I've always been a 'doer"', she says. You had to be able to ride a horse and a bicycle. The roads were either non-existent or very muddy. If anyone was sick we would go out and visit and sometimes spend the night out with a sick or dying person. My work wasn’t confined to the classroom.

"One afternoon I was listening with the children to an educational programme - and woke up to find it was past three o'clock. The children had kept quiet and let me sleep, because 'we knew you 'd been up all night with a sick person and needed to sleep'. Another time Sister de Lourdes and I spent a whole night nursing a child with convulsions. The people went off to town to buy food for the tangi - they were convinced the child was going to die. When they came back and found the child had recovered they were amazed. We told them to use the food for a feast to celebrate the child's recovery!"

"So it was by no means all teaching. Your life there was everybody's life; we were fully part of the community."

Sr Walburga had two spells teaching in Jerusalem. She also taught the intellectually disabled children in Wellington and spent time in Fiji. "I had a glorious time", she says. It never worried her to have a change of place or of work. "I had no regrets. I accepted that that was where God wanted me to be".

She has a great and abiding affection for the Maori people. "They are so kind and charitable. They do the sort of thing we would never think of. They are so spontaneous in helping their neighbours and sharing anything they are given. That sort of generosity is an everyday occurrence. You hear about the few who do terrible things. But the majority of the Maori people are not like that at all. I remember going into the house of a lady in Porirua and found her looking after a baby. The lady next door had had to go into hospital in town. She was not only caring for her baby, but was about to spend more than she could afford to go into town and visit the mother and bring her some things. I was able to do that for her, - but she never gave it a second thought, simply spent her money on someone else she hardly knew. And that's the way they are.

"The Maori people accept the Sisters of Compassion, especially in the places where Mother Aubert worked. They expect us to be part of their lives. We belong to them. But they wouldn’t think of becoming a Sister. They would sooner have grandchildren than see a daughter going into the convent!"

So where has God been in her long and eventful life? As a child Sister Walburga always felt close to God - although that didn’t prevent her having lots of fun! Sometimes in her work she has felt lonely but never far from God. "I talk to God especially in conflict situations, and God never lets me down. I soon feel at peace.

"And God continues to be close to me. I feel he's just there, especially in the beauties of the natural world. And in the people I work with. The Maori people have a very deep spirituality. They may not be great church-goers - but they are prayerful. Their prayer is quite informal. I asked one lady about a problem she was having. 'Have you prayed about it?', I asked. She replied: 'I've told God about it; he knows!"

the Maori people expect the Sisters to be part of their lives
- we belong to them

Has she enjoyed her long years as a Sister of Compassion? "Like any other vocation it has its ups and downs. That's life. But for me it has been a happy life with many compensations for the hard work. Above all, the friendship of people. I have spent my life working among loving people. And it has been such a varied life - lots of different things to do. Teaching the children, caring for the sick, keeping the books - and coaching the swimming team! A very varied life."

And what of the future for the Sisters of Compassion? There are no vocations at the present time, but Walburga is hopeful... ".. because we are very close to the people. We have always been less restricted than other Orders. We were the first to ride horses - and the first to drive cars! We have always been in and out of people's homes - and their lives.

"Our work has changed. We do not look after babies the way we used to, because there is no longer the need. But the Sisters at Sussex Street, in the middle of Wellington, have developed a great apostolate among the migrants. It's a new phase for us. They go and visit them in their flats. The Centre is not just a soup kitchen. In the evenings there are gatherings for prayer. We have lots of volunteers, and they are also seeking to share our spirituality.

"No, we have a future. I am confident we have a future. After all, we are New Zealand's one home-grown congregation."

Reproduced with permission-Tui Motu lnterislands September 98

Click to view a poem written by Sr Walburga

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