Sister Jenny Seal’s life in the land down under as a first generation Australian of Maltese parents has been a journey filled with discoveries, some pleasant, some less so, but one of her most recent experiences has enriched her life in ways she didn’t expect.
Her parents were Maltese, and time and time again, her parents had told her and her siblings many stories of their childhood, especially during WW2 and a few years following that until they travelled to Australia with their respective families.
As a Religious Sister, a consultant in the Family and Parish-Based Catechesis Office in Adelaide for more than 10 years, and as a Vocation Network coordinator of the Catholic Archdiocese of Adelaide, life got pretty busy for Sister Jenny, who decided to take an eight-week-long sabbatical in Malta to get back to her roots.
Talking to Newspoint, she compared the hospitality of the Maltese people of today to that shown with St Paul, who also spoke of the homeliness of Malta after the Shipwreck.
“One of the reasons I chose to come to Malta for this time was to immerse myself in the history and heritage of my family”, she told Newspoint.
Through correspondence with Rev. Dr Nicholas Doublet from the University's Faculty of Theology, she found out about the possibility of enrolling into two study-units, one about the History of the Church in Malta, and the other which was an Appreciation of Sacred Art from Paleo Christian to Medieval Times. And she did.
“These two units fit my sabbatical purpose like a glove and, as an audit student, would work well with my aim of taking in and absorbing the culture and heritage of which I am a part.”
In Malta, Sr Jenny felt an immediate sense of belonging, but she said this only grew stronger as she joined the University of Malta community for her learning experience. She felt a sense of having arrived home.
“I very much felt at home with the students and lecturers; I enjoyed my time, the people, and the units so much while in Malta that I asked if I could continue with the next unit on Ecclesiastical Archives online while back in Australia. I knew I wouldn’t be able to join the site lectures; however, from the experience of all the lecture presentations and notes with references on PowerPoint, I was able to continue the invaluable learning with great interest.”
To have an opportunity to revel in the historicity of Malta in the context of world history and cultural impact was of paramount importance to Sr Jenny. The more the semester progressed, the more she came to realise the positive impact of place, belonging and of land to which people assign being ‘at home’.
“Participation in the units, for which I am most grateful, gave me a ‘community’ with whom I would see and interact regularly twice a week. I am grateful for both the community and the academic experience of my time at UM – as it manifested far above my expectations.”
And this importance of having a place of belonging, which became heightened through her experience in Malta, was elevated even more by how readily the UM community was ready to share their resources with each other, and by the University's strong element of collaboration.
“I was very grateful for whoever I asked for assistance from at UM, I experienced a welcoming milieu be it from students in class, lecturers, campus students offering directions. Yes, I am extremely content that I chose such a history-rich place to study”, Sr Jenny concluded.
Sr Jenny belongs to the international missionary Congregation of the Daughters of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart (Madonna ta' Sacro Cuor), who this year celebrate 150 years since foundation.
