Joyful news from the Vatican

31 January 1953. His Eminence Norman Cardinal Gilroy signs the Metropolitan Decree of the Erection of the Diocesan Congregation of the Society of Our Lady’s Nurses for the Poor, formally recognising the community at Our Lady’s Home as a religious congregation. By this stage, four of the nurses at Our Lady’s Home in Coogee have been serving the sick poor in their own homes for almost 40 years. The announcement triggers a dramatic increase in vocations throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Cardinal Gilroy became good friends with the nurses and often attended their Annual Gift Day and other functions.