Feature: Now for something completely different

Sydney
20 January 2002

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Feature: Now for something completely different

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Feature: Now for something completely different

“It’s different, isn't it?”–- the much commented-on church today.

By Marilyn Kerjean

First Friday Mass at Our Lady of Fatima Parish, Caringbah used to be ruled with an iron rod by Sister of Mercy, Sr Virgelius and parish priest Fr Charles Keller.

Parishioners who had done the right thing and turned up bore the brunt of their wrath aimed at the absentees.

Years before, when work began on the building of the primary school, more than 22,000 second-hand bricks were laboriously cleaned by volunteers to cut costs.

“When they had finished, Father sent one of the men up to the pub to get beer so that they could relax with a chat and a cool ale … Then the men went home to establish their own gardens or mow their own lawns.”

Everyone was expected to do their bit to help the parish.

“One day there was a shortage of helpers (in the school tuckshop). Seeing a young woman crossing the playground they asked her if she would help out … she obliged.

“At the end of the shift after thanking her, one of the women asked which class her children were in. ‘Oh,’ she said, ‘I haven’t got children at school here. I was just taking a short cut across school grounds’.”

These anecdotes come from Celebrating a Journey: 1951-2001 Our Lady of Fatima Parish, Caringbah, a book recently published by parishioners as part of their 50th jubilee.

The book documents the parish’s journey from humble beginnings when Mass was celebrated in a small brick building which also served as the school and hall, until the 50th anniversary celebrations in the new award-winning church building last year.

The spirit and energy of the two parish priests – Fr Charles Keller and Mons Kerry Bayada – and the personalities of many parishioners, religious sisters and brothers and teachers shine through the accounts of parishioners and Mons Kerry who did most of the writing for the book.

An appeal for information, stories and photographs got an enthusiastic response from parishioners; resulting in a lovely and often amusing montage of the life of the parish, including the primary school and De La Salle College.

It shows the parish to be a hardworking, faith-filled and happy community not afraid to move with modern times.

In 1959 Fr Keller built the first church with volunteer help and on a small budget.

It was “plain but suitable for parish needs”.

Fr Keller’s intention was that it would become the parish hall once he was able to build the church he really had in mind.

But his dream wasn’t fulfilled until 1999 when the Catholic Church and society had seen many changes.

The new building’s radical design is a sign of a bold and faithful step forward from firm foundations.

“When I took the plans to show Cardinal Clancy, he kept saying: ‘It’s different isn’t it?’,” says parish priest Mons Bayada.

It won the builders, Co-Wyn Building contractors, an award for best public building.

They won another award for the interior timber beams that draw the eye high up to the ceiling and the sky and eucalypts beyond.

Parishioners sit around the altar in the centre of the church space to encourage a community feel and to remind worshippers that Jesus and the Mass are at the centre of our lives, says Mons Bayada.

“It took some people some time to come to terms with sitting around the altar,” he says. “But when you sit at a meal, people face each other don’t they?”

He admits he also found it very hard to get used to saying Mass standing in the centre of the congregation, even though it had been his idea.

Although most parishioners loved their new church, there were a few who didn’t like the changes and decided to leave the parish.

But vast changes in society and the Church over the past 50 years since the parish was established must be reflected in parish life, says Mons Bayada.

The contributions of the various prayer, social and pastoral groups, choirs, sports clubs and youth groups over that time are all acknowledged gratefully in Celebrating a Journey.

The Sisters of Mercy, the De La Salle brothers, lay principals and teachers are remembered as are the parishioners.

The parish primary school and De La Salle College have been integral to the life of the parish. The college has been there for 43 years since its beginnings in the basement of the kindergarten.

Mons Bayada says the highlights of celebrations last year were the two anniversary Masses: one for parishioners celebrated by Bishop Peter Ingham; the second celebrated by the Archbishop of Sydney, Archbishop Pell, with exparishioners, exstudents and others from the past who were welcomed back.

The success of a dinner dance last May and a spectacular concert in the parish hall in November with an audience of more than 300 has inspired the formation of a parish social committee.

It will work on bigger and better plans for the thriving parish of 7,000 Catholics in 2002.

The last word on the striking church and the people who bring it to life goes to Celebrating a Journey: “(The church) symbolises the warmth and friendliness of a parish, solid in its faith and resting trustingly in God’s love.”

Celebrating a Journey: 1951– 2001 Our Lady of Fatima Parish, Caringbah costs $15 from the parish office. Tel: 9524 7283.