Mass of Remembrance to Say Goodbye

Fr John Daly, Colleen Oberle, Denise Tuzes in front of the cross

Almost a year after a devastating fire ripped through St Mary’s Catholic Church, a Mass of Remembrance was held on Sunday 29^th November, at the usual 9.00am Mass time and on the site of the 68 year-old church, to grieve the loss and say farewell.

A large marquee was erected over the site, transformed into a church complete with sound system, where 200 people celebrated the farewell Mass. Before the liturgy began, we paid respect to the traditional custodians of the land and remembered in silence the past and present members of the St Mary’s faith community. The gathering hymn, “What is this Place?” reminded us that the church is a building, but when we gather in the presence of God, we become the Body of Christ, the Church.

It was quite appropriate that the Mass in Remembrance was held on the first Sunday of Advent, symbolically stating a new beginning. We say goodbye to the old and look forward to the arrival or the coming of the new.

Fr John Daly presided at the Mass, himself an original member of the St Mary’s community since childhood. Frs Peter, Gasper and Terry concelebrated. Father John said his family has been with St Mary’s since the very first day as they lived just down the street. Walking with neighbours to Mass on Sunday as a child is one of his fondest memories of St Mary’s Church. The community was forming even before reaching the church.

St Mary’s has a long tradition as a small, welcoming, alive community. The St Mary’s people seemed to have stayed together, gathering each Sunday morning in St Patrick’s church. They continue to be a people who share a common history.

Mrs Biddy Dwyer and apex cross    Colleen Cameron says Thank You to Mrs Jackie Habermann

Memories and stories were shared after the Mass over a cuppa and a browse through the memorabilia display was a must. Whether they were fond or sad memories, a sense of celebration and camaraderie abounded. The processional cross, restored tabernacle door, the celtic cross from the apex of the roof, and the large wooden cross on the front wall of the church managed to be salvaged and displayed.

The morning was a great success thanks to the mighty efforts of a team of organisers and the people who came to remember, to celebrate, and pay tribute to a little wooden church that became home to many over its lifetime.

GOOD NEWS

We all agree that this was a year like no other. Across the Diocese people have adapted to changed routines and plans, directed by State Government Covid regulations. Some have embraced the changes and become creative in their attempts to remain connected with their parishioners, families, and students.

Here in Bundaberg we were no different. Little did we know that within our office walls we had two technologically-skilled front-office staff, a super-human Parish Manager who could make hand sanitizer appear overnight, landscape, and pull an outdoor event for 200 people together, parishioners who were willing to make phone calls and drop off bulletins, and a priest who quickly developed interview and on-camera skills and realised that every effort needed to be made in order to advance through the year, even as plans changed.  

We would like to share our year with you through our annual parish magazine, “Good News”, this year entitled “2020 New Vision”. Simply, we had a plan for the year in January which changed dramatically in February and March. We developed a “new vision” of parish life.

Please enjoy reading our news at the link:

LOOKING AHEAD

The Parish Team will meet to plan for 2021 on their planning day, Monday, 14^th December. We will look at our hopes and dreams for the parish, not knowing when government regulations will ease, but hoping for sooner rather than later. We are still waiting for a Christmas miracle from our Premier allowing us to open our churches to everyone for Christmas.

Meantime, we look forward to celebrating the coming of our Lord, Jesus, at Christmas time. We pray that all in our Diocesan family enjoy a safe, happy, and holy Christmas in the company of loved ones. We wait with anticipation to see what 2021 brings us.

Anne Sheehan