Mother Emily Day at TNK – Remembering a Founder, Renewing a Call
Today, Monday 6th April, the Sisters of the Church in Solomon Islands gathered at the Hill of Prayer (TNK) to celebrate Mother Emily Day, transferred from 5th April this year because of the Easter weekend. It was a beautiful and joy‑filled day honouring the life, vision, and enduring legacy of Mother Emily, the remarkable woman who founded the Community of the Sisters of the Church in the UK in 1870.
Sisters from households across Guadalcanal travelled to TNK to mark this special occasion with prayer, thanksgiving, and fellowship. As the light broke over the hill, you could sense the gratitude and pride of a community remembering its roots in the UK and now here in Solomon Islands, where the community was introduced in 1970.
Honouring a Founder With a Global Legacy
Mother Emily believed deeply that religious life was not meant to be withdrawn from the world, but placed right in the midst of it, bringing compassion, courage, and spiritual renewal.
In the Rule she wrote for the Community, she set out its purpose clearly:
“The Religious Order of the Sisters of the Church has been founded to promote the honour and glory of Almighty God and the extension of His Kingdom here on earth.”
For her, this calling was expressed through what she described as “a life of active charity and missionary enterprise”, a combination we might now describe as social activism and spiritual renewal.
Living in the harsh realities of Victorian England, Emily saw firsthand the grinding poverty and indignity forced upon thousands, especially children. She responded not with resignation, but with practical and spiritual action.
Mother Emily opened schools for poor children, established orphanages, provided convalescent homes, supported labourers, and stood alongside the oppressed. Within just thirty years, her Community had expanded around the world.
A Day of Prayer and Reflection at TNK
This morning’s Eucharist at TNK echoed that same spirit. Sister Catherine Rosa preached a powerful sermon reminding the community that the Sisters are called to be intentional and set apart, yet never isolated from the world’s suffering. Their vocation is to serve, through mission, education, hospitality, and loving care, especially with the most vulnerable.
After Holy Week, today felt like both a continuation and a gentle deepening: a moment to look back on over 150 years of the Community’s life, and also to look forward with renewed commitment.
The Sisters’ Mission in Solomon Islands Today
Here in Solomon Islands, the Community of the Sisters of the Church continues the work Mother Emily began. There are six households across the country, along with a transit house near Henderson airport, and most significantly, the Sisters run the Christian Care Centres on Guadalcanal and Malaita, the safe houses for women and children fleeing domestic violence.
Their ministry is courageous, demanding, and deeply rooted in prayer, the “first necessity,” as Mother Emily insisted. It is prayer that sustains them, guides them, and gives strength for the immense tasks placed before them.
A Day of Gratitude and Hope
Celebrating Mother Emily Day at TNK has been a humbling joy. To see her legacy alive in the Sisters here, in their dedication, simplicity, humour, hospitality, and fierce compassion, is to witness the lasting fruits of a life offered entirely to God.
As the Community continues to serve across Solomon Islands, Australia, Canada, and the UK, may we hold them in prayer, just as Mother Emily urged her Sisters to hold the world in prayer.
Please join MMUK in praying for the Community of the Sisters of the Church: for their mission, their formation, their households, and all those they faithfully serve.
To find out more about this Community, visit
Community of the Sisters of the Church
By Katie Drew, MMUK Executive Director