SW News:

Australian Catholics are mourning the demise of a Mercy nun who earned gold records for a rendering of the Lord’s Prayer. Sister Janet Mead passed away in Adelaide on January 26 at the age of 84. She had been battling cancer for quite some time. 

Her rendition of the Our Father set to an uptempo rock beat topped the charts in both the US as well as Australia. In the United States, her single was No. 4 on the chart while it was No. 3 in her home country. She also has the distinction of being the first Australian to win a gold record in the US. 

According to Australian government-funded broadcaster ABC, the nun’s single was distributed in 31 nations and it sold more than 2 million copies across the world. Sr Mead lost the Grammy Award to Pop King Elvis Presley. 

In spite of her fame in the music world, Sr Mead was more renowned for her sterling service in attending to the homeless in Adelaide, where she hails from. She was also a faculty member of St Aloysius College in the city. In 2004, she was named the South Australian of the Year for her service to the homeless.