Abstract
Some Suitable Women presents an engaging study of charitable and social welfare work by women who dedicated their lives to helping the poor and disadvantaged through the Anglican Community of the Holy Name (CHN). The book documents the problems confronting the poor in late 19th-century Melbourne, Australia, the emergence of charitable institutions among the major churches, particularly the Church of England, and how a group of women chose to live and serve within the context of the Diocesan Mission to the Streets and Lanes in the most deprived areas of Melbourne.
The deaconesses of Europe and Florence Nightingale, who broke free from restrictions of Victorian family life and revolutionized the nursing profession and the care of the sick and needy, inspired Emma Silcock to become the first Manager of the Mission to the Streets and Lanes and founder of CHN. In addition to chronicling CHN’s ministry among Australia’s urban poor, CHN sisters undertook work in Papua New Guinea, a “martyr church” whose staff had been decimated when nine mission staff and two Papuan workers were killed by the Japanese during World War II. In 1951, several sisters took up this work, which continued until 1977 when it was handed over to the PNG government.
In 2013, a celebration at St. Paul’s Cathedral, Melbourne, honored the faithful ministry of CHN members. A plaque was dedicated as a permanent reminder of the faithful service by CHN members for over 125 years. The author acknowledges that she, along with her religious sisters and members of religious orders around the world, has experienced uncertainty, confusion, and soul searching in terms of validity and vision.
The author is a member of CHN. The book grew from her PhD research at Monash University. The strength of this book is Sister Dunlop’s ability to present the stories of the community: what it was like for the women, living under the discipline of the religious life, to serve Christ among the neediest. In 2004, while researching the new monastic movement, I interviewed Sister Philippa Pickering and was struck by how extraordinary a life she had lived to the glory of God. While reading this book I was led to inquire and to confirm that Sister Philippa lives in Lorne. Apart from providing a well-written history of the CHN, this book will inspire others to creatively embrace such challenges as climate change, poverty, and terrorism. As Christians in an endangered world, by changing context, we may read the story told in this book as unfinished (208).