Anthony Byrne (Holt, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I commend the member for McMillan for the comments he made, which I endorse. I would like to talk about an event conducted in my elected on the 11 June, last week. It was quite a special event. It was the blessing of a convent which houses three very special women from Nigeria. They are Nigerian Catholic nuns who basically have, as part of a project of the exchange between Nigeria and Australia, come to Cranbourne to spend their time nourishing and enriching the area. They are amazing people. I would like to mention particularly Sister Grace, Sister Mary and the very formidable Sister Mercia Ko, who I guess you would say is the head nun. This project was embarked upon as a consequence of a discussion between Bishop Michael Apochi, the Bishop for Nigeria, and Bishop Christopher Prowse, who is now the Archbishop of Canberra. It is amazing seeing the great works which are occurring here. A couple of priests have come over from Nigeria as well. I am very grateful to Bishop Prowse for the work he has done. The convent is an amazing new building, certainly much larger than the smaller one which barely houses three nuns. This great project just goes to show the strength and resilience of the Catholic Church and its reach into the international community as well.

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