Catherine Alice SMARTT

SMARTT, CATHERINE ALICE (NÉE LINTOTT, KITTY) (b. Bolwarra, NSW, 12 Aug 1890; d. Sydney, NSW, 24 Dec 1985). Salvation Army Officer.

Born the eldest of six children to Staff Captain Edward and Amelia Lintott, pioneering Salvation Army Officers in Australia, Catherine herself became an Officer in 1913. She married Ensign Samuel Smartt in 1920 and together their ministry took them to five states in Australia. Because her parents were frequently transferred, she was deprived of a stable formal education and left school at the age of thirteen; throughout her long life, she remained a student with a tremendous intellectual thirst, building an extensive library from which she developed a vast knowledge of the scriptures, history literature, psychology and education.

Mrs Smartt reared four children but also had a very active ministry as a Salvation Army Officer which encompassed many diverse fields and which continued to well over the age of ninety. Her ministry with women was legendary. She was a popular speaker for women's groups with classic titles such as 'beauty hints' and 'husbands', delivered with great humour but drawing heavily on biblical references. She offered practical help to women during the depression in the mining areas around Newcastle, teaching them skills of budgeting, first aid, and child-rearing, all as a background to sharing God's love.

She helped establish vigorous Sunday schools, using original and dramatically innovative methods. She developed the art of story-telling to children of all ages, dismissing the need to point a moral. During the war years (1939-45) she wrote a weekly letter to an ever-increasing number of servicemen, supporting them emotionally and encouraging them spiritually. In the 1950s she was an active member of the inter-denominational Christian resource group ACCE, where she had a significant influence in the development of the theory and practice of Christian education. She specialised in writing a prodigious number of widely-distributed background notes and teaching guide-lines for Sunday school teachers.

Concerned at the alienation of older adolescents in the church setting, and at their request, she conducted a weekly bible study for students in her home. In her eighties she was preparing for and conducting three bible study groups per week. Mrs Smartt was generally very progressive in her ideas, for example with regard to ecumenism and the role of women in society. She rejected aggressive feminism, preferring a pragmatic view of women in society that recognised the fundamental differences between men and women, but that asserted equal opportunity especially in leadership roles. She could communicate effectively with all age groups and immensely enjoyed debating such topics as current affairs philosophic issues, Christian apologetics and biblical studies. Mrs Smartt lived an extremely rich life tirelessly giving to others and leaving an enormous legacy of the enrichment of lives in her translation of gospel truths to everyday living.

JEAN SATCHELL