In a spirit of great joy and anticipation, Corrie van den Bosch MSS launched her new book, Graced Beyond Telling – A Soul’s Dark Journey in Melbourne on 15 February 2024. More than 100 guests attended the launch at St Thomas the Apostle school and parish hall in Blackburn, which included many of the Melbourne-based Missionary Sisters of Service, friends from the Victorian Bushwalking Club, her many prayer and reading group friends, former work colleagues, members of the MSS Stewardship Council and members of her family (to name a few!)
Former executive director of The John Wallis Foundation (now Highways and Byways, Healing the Land, Healing Ourselves, Together), Liz McAloon, served as MC for the evening, with congregational leader Stancea Vichie MSS providing the Acknowledgement of Country and giving the audience some background to the MSS’s story. She explained that Corrie’s book launch also served as the first official event to mark the MSS’s 80-year anniversary of foundation (the MSS plan to celebrate this milestone in their communities throughout the year).
Prof Gabrielle McMullen AM officially launched the book, providing some key reflections on Corrie’s insightful, raw and moving writing. Hugh McGinlay of Coventry Press (the publishers of Graced Beyond Telling) also spoke, thanking Corrie for allowing Coventry Press to publish this special book. Taking to the podium, Corrie shared with those gathered something of what writing this book had done for her, of how she came to take up journal writing which she says, ‘has been such a powerful means of coming to understand my inner life.’ She also spoke of the presence of God, working unrecognised through the messiness and brokenness of her life.
‘Only in retrospect did I begin to recognise it. And now, reading those journals years later, I kept being astonished at how clearly God was present and working,’ Corrie reflects.
When Corrie concluded, a number of questions were asked from among those gathered, which gave Corrie the chance to share reflections on the changes happening in our times, and how these affect the way we think of God and our role in the Church and world. The evening concluded with a blessing by Corrie, and refreshments for those gathered. Read Corrie’s full reflections, which she wrote in the days following the launch, here.
Read Prof. Gabrielle McMullen’s speech, here.
Watch the full book launch online, here.
** UPCOMING BOOK LAUNCH IN HOBART, TASMANIA **
Corrie will be launching Graced Beyond Telling – A Soul’s Dark Journey in South Hobart , Tasmania, on Saturday, 13th April at St Francis Xavier Hall, at 2.30pm. Note: Entry is underneath the church at the corner of Anglesea and Adelaide Streets, with access off Anglesea Street.
RSVP by Wednesday 10 April, to edmanpenny56@gmail.com or call 0400 896 191.
All welcome!
About Graced Beyond Telling
Graced Beyond Telling reveals the story of Corrie’s growing up in life, in faith, and self-discovery. It is a story of finding inner peace, inner meaning, and inner acceptance of the person God intended her to be. It is about a growing awareness of God’s presence in her life, bringing wonder, trust and peace. A story of searching, occasional and deep confusion, times of abandonment, vulnerability and a growing sense of God’s Spirit at work in Corrie’s life and her ministry. It is an account of Corrie’s ‘yes’ to the presence and purposes of God in her life, purposes that shaped her world and life even before her life began. Ultimately, it is a story of grace at work in the ordinary everyday of Corrie’s life. Order your copy, here.
