Blessing of Calvary Lenah Valley Maternity Ward
It is a joy to be with you for this blessing ceremony for the newly renovated Maternity Ward for Calvary Lenah Valley Hospital.
When I go to bless a new school building, the message that is often delivered to the students is that the new building is for you. The children are the ones for whom the school exists. The principal, teachers, and other staff are given new facilities so that they may educate the children in the best possible environment.
By parallel, this maternity space exists not in the first place for the people who will work in it. It exists for the people in the care of Calvary health. These maternity wards are a place of support and service for the mothers and infants in your care and the staff of Calvary who will directly attend upon them as clinicians, nurses, cleaners, caterers, allied health workers etc.
These maternity spaces are a place of service to the smallest of patients who will never remember them. Thus, those who work here have to keep in view, in their minds eye, in the eye of their hearts, the mothers and the fragile gift of life that is both celebrated and sometimes suffered here.
The reading chosen for today’s blessing is the story of two pregnant women: Mary and her cousin Elizabeth. With some eighty young people from Melbourne, I went to Elizabeth and Zechariah’s house and climbed the steps up to it. All I can say is that the pregnant Mary must have been very fit. The hill is quite steep, it is not a short walk, and the temperature is quite hot even in the early morning.
In that setting two pregnant women met. The younger one who ran to encourage her older cousin. And the older one who recognised that she was in the presence of true holiness and the gift of grace.
Though the younger Mary was praised by Elizabeth—Mary turned the praise away from herself and gave praise to the Almighty who had done great things for her.
In these Maternity facilities, you at Calvary Health can also recognise that God has done great things for you. In his mercy which reaches from age to age, the gifts of intelligence and skill, has been given to clinicians and nurses. And more, Mary’s prayer reminds those who have been so blessed that the Lord routs the proud of heart and exalts the lowly. So, each one of us, Archbishop included, can learn from Mary and humbly acknowledge the gifts with which we have been blessed and proclaim the greatness of the Lord.
The maternity wards are also a place of encouragement and support. Here mothers to be will, like Mary and Elizabeth, encourage each other. Their relatives and friends will offer congratulations and embrace them during times of struggle and grief.
These maternity wards are a place where life is treasured and promoted in its fragility. The big people bend to hold the small. The strong tend to the weak and fragile. And, all of us know that we cannot control everything. Thus, we kneel in prayer in moments of thanks, praise, intercession and grief. We ask the Lord to bless these newly renovated wards and all who will come here.
May all who receive the gift of life in this place know that the Lord has done and is doing great things here and Holy is his name.
Archbishop Anthony J Ireland
Archbishop of Hobart
2 June 2026