Week Six: Archbishop’s Pastoral Parish visits

ST JOSEPH’S, O’CONNOR

Fr Paul Nully and Fr Abraham Nadukunnel

Neo-catechumenate’s Angela, Gerard, Tania and Irene

About 50 people gathered for Holy Hour as Archbishop Christopher’s visit to St Joseph’s, O’Connor, was a time of joy and excitement for the parish.

Fr Paul spoke of the love and care of Archbishop Christopher, which was displayed as he shared stories from across the Archdiocese and spoke of the importance of silent prayer and reaching out to others.

Over supper, parishioners and members of parish groups spoke with the Archbishop including members of the Parish Pastoral Council, the school community, Legion of Mary, Neo-Catechumenal Way, men of St Joseph, Unpacking the Creed (theology group) and participants of the RCIA. 

Parishioners shared how they reached out to others during the COVID-19 lock-down. One parishioner spoke about writing messages of hope that were translated into various languages and spread throughout the world to encourage people.

Surprisingly, the Parish grew in number during the lockdown thanks to the Digital Media and Strategy Team. It used new technology to build a database of parishioners, a safe and secure network for parish groups to digitally meet and connect, and a state-of-the-art online donations facility. The technology of our parish website caught international attention and is being taken up by another Australian Archdiocese. 

The Archbishop also visited the Syro-Malabar community. Their Parish Priest, Fr Abraham Nadukunnel, shares the presbytery with Fr Paul, adding to the diversity of our Parish community.