OAM honours for Josephite nun, Sr Mary Comer, a supporter of rural communities

Sr Mary Therese Comer has spent her life supporting others, whether it be disadvantaged children, parishioners or organisations supporting those who need assistance, and has received her Order of Australia Medal (OAM) for service to the community.

She said she was humbled to hear she had been honoured with the OAM, and said she felt the award belonged to all who had worked alongside her in her journey.

"I see lots of people doing great things in the community so I guess the question is: why me?" she said

"It's an honour. It certainly is. I'm grateful at another level and I'm very conscious it's an award that is shared by many people; all the staff I worked with that have been excellent and the board at Centacare, certainly the board there that had great vision and persistence and trust.

"We were fortunate to have good mentors along the way.

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"For my own community for backing me and the Diocese for backing me and for all the people who have come and used the service.

"I think I've gotten as much from them as they have from me really."

Of all the community organisations she has been involved with, she said Centacare holds a special place in her heart.

"It does, we had to grow it from the beginning. A lot of the other things I've been involved with were already there and working on what other people have done before you, whereas probably Centacare was sewing seeds and watching it grow with the skill of other people along the way," she said.

Sr Mary established Centacare Bathurst in 1988 which, to this day, continues to provide a range of social welfare services to children and families across the region.

After spending the first few years of her professional years as a school teacher, Sr Mary said she recognised there were some children suffering from the likes of learning difficulties, depression or family troubles who would learn better with extra support.

"I returned to university to study a Masters in School Counselling, and worked as a school counsellor across the Diocese for nine years," she said.

"It became evident to me certain children could improve at school if we could work with their families, so I had a year's sabbatical overseas and approached the Diocese about setting up a service to better cater for children and their families, which became Centacare."

Sr Mary said Centacare has brought to Bathurst a safe place where families can access help in regards to relationships with their children.

"The help provided by Centacare is often centred around relationship difficulties, grief management, preventative services, parenting programs and self-esteem programs," she said.

"We introduced a mediation program that prevented families from having to go to court to settle custody arrangements. This involved bringing a lawyer and a counsellor together to solve problems."

Through Sr Mary's involvement, Centacare expanded its operations further afield to Orange, Dubbo, Mudgee and Lithgow. It has since expanded to additional locations and there's now a school counsellor in each school within the Diocese.

"We wanted to stress the point that people needed extra services in the bush, which has hopefully normalised the need for rural community support," she said.

Sr Mary said the core of the Catholic faith is centred around the pieces of gospel where Jesus said, "I've come that they may have life, and have it to the full", and, "love one another as I have loved you".

Centacare was established on the basis of these quotes.

"If we can help people live their lives the best they can, and to achieve what they want to achieve, that's as close a link as you need between the Catholic faith and the community," Sr Mary said.

She finished as Centacare's director in 2005.

The organisation now boasts a workforce of over 100 people, and works with a range of people across the Western area, and Sr Mary said she's especially proud the organisation has expanded to cater for Indigenous communities.

In recent years, Sr Mary has kept busy as the congregational leader for the Sisters of St Joseph at Perthville (2006 to 2011), a Catholic Healthcare trustee (2012-2021) and has worked towards upholding professional standards within the Catholic Church.

Reflecting on her work, she said she feels honoured to have been in a position to support others.

"I've been given the gift of life by God. I guess it's up to me to make the best of that and to recognise that sometimes other people haven't been as fortunate," Sr Mary said.

"And it's also nice to help other people recognise their own gifts."

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