Vicar: Sr Elisa Helen CSC.
I was born in Armidale NSW in 1956. At the time I had two older sisters Rosemary and Margaret and my dad was working with the CSIRO doing field research into Myxomatosis. My brother Peter was born 13month after me and we were always very close when growing up. Not long after Peter was born dad went to Morpeth Theological College to train for ordination to the priesthood. My youngest brother Tim was born a few years after dad was ordained. My Dad died from cancer in 1978.
I have lived in a number of places in northern NSW and South Australia and when I left school I trained as a registered nurse at Calvary Hospital in North Adelaide. I consider Adelaide my family home town, despite only having lived there for about ten years, because both my parents originated there.
I am a member of the Sisters of the Church, an Anglican Religious Order, which means I am in lay terms, a nun. I joined the Sisters in 1985 and up until 2001 I was involved with a lot of voluntary ministry, mostly in Northern NSW. The Sisters in Australia are few in number and are in Kempsey and Sydney in NSW, and, here in Melbourne, there are two of us.
Since 2001, I have been in professional ministry, beginning as children’s and family pastoral worker at St Andrew’s Brighton. I was ordained in 2003 and did my second curacy at the Bellarine Gateway Anglican Church and have been Priest in Charge at St Matthew’s Ashburton since February 2006.
Currently my mum is living in Ballarat and my sister Margaret and her husband with their two children live there as well. Kathleen and Christopher, my niece and nephew are at that age where they are at university and Kathleen will be living with me on a part time basis when I come to Melton. Rosemary and Peter both live in Adelaide and Tim lives in Thailand.
I have two small dogs and a cat, I love walking, movies and Aussie Rules Football [Sydney Swans] and I have a passion to make the Good News of Jesus Christ known to people everywhere, especially within our country. As Melton is such a rapidly developing and growing area, I am really excited by the possibilities of ministry there, and I am looking forward to becoming part of Christ Church in order to work with you to build Christ’s Kingdom in Melton.