A retired priest, Dean John Kelly, offers his North Sydney home, Alma Cottage, to Mary to be used as a Novitiate. Mary writes: “A dear benefactor, a good priest, is giving his own home to serve as a future Novitiate. It is beautifully situated, so retired and quiet, and is to be our own property.”
The site quickly develops into the Mother House of the congregation, and the Novitiate and Teacher Training School are established there. The new Novitiate opens on 19 March.