With our parish having celebrated it's 20th anniversary in 1991, you can imagine that it was a time of reflection on our past. From the links below we attempt to provide you with a both a flavour and some details of what we think is an interesting history for a medium size parish in suburban Sydney Australia.
Background and History
Established: Parish began second Sunday in May, 1971.
Parish priest: Father Francis Vaughan, the first and only priest of this parish. And several months after the church celebrates its 20th anniversary on 31 July, 1997, Fr. Vaughan celebrates his golden jubilee as a priest. Yes, 50th anniversary as a priest, in November of 1997.
Number of parishioners: Approximately 2OOO.
Special parish features:
- Sand stone altar was obtained from "Graduate House" of Manly, one of the few not destroyed!
- The large Crucifix was found in a couple of pieces in the sacristy of the old Lane Cove Church and was restored as you see it today.
- The Tabernacle was also in disuse in the storeroom of "Graduate House", Manly and now houses the Lord in Normanhurst.
Parish milestones:
- The parish began on the second Sunday of May 1971 in Loreto Chapel, Normanhurst and functioned there for more than six years by courtesy of the Loreto Sisters. Making this the start of the 27th year this parish will serve it’s congregation.
- The parish church and presbytery were blessed and opened on July 31,1977, by Cardinal James Freeman. The parish celebrates the 20th anniversary of this blessing this year !
Projects of which the parish is particularly proud:
- Helping local Catholic schools, primary and secondary, to pay their bills as we have no school of our own.
- We were the first church in this area forced by council regulations to provide off-street parking.
- We were the first compelled to carpet the church against noise pollution.
- We had to plant trees to prevent light pollution from car headlights in our parking lot.
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Page created - 18 September, 1988
Page last updated - 05 October, 2001 15:43:13 +1000