By Anthony Barich
THE parish of Sts John and Paul in Willetton launched a new era on 26 June as it celebrated its 30th anniversary.
Parish priest Fr Thai Vu concelebrated Mass with his assistant Fr Anand Reddy, Vicar General Monsignor Brian O’Loughlin and Fr Thi Lam, who spent time at the parish while a seminarian, as the parish launched its new Parish Prayer and inaugural Parish Feast Day.
The Parish Feast Day is to be held each year from now on in the last weekend of June to coincide with the feast day of Saints Peter and Paul, 29 June.
Last month’s celebration marked the third parish fair weekend, during which the parish’s many pastoral ministries, including Personal Advocacy Service and stewardship, are on display in the parish hall.
These ministries also carried out some key parts of the Vigil Mass – the parish lectors (called ‘proclaimers’) did the first and second readings and the Psalm; catechists and students from Orana Primary, the school adjacent to the parish, read the Prayers of the Faithful; Personal Advocacy Service did the Offertory; and the John Paul Prayer Ministry handed out prayer cards after Mass with the newly launched Parish Prayer and copies of the church’s stained glass window portrayals of Sts John and Paul on them.
Mgr O’Loughlin also used his homily to call for young men and women to “respond generously” to the call to priestly and Religious vocations, and asked the parish to pray for them.
As chair of the Archdiocesan Historical Commission, the Vicar General also urged the parish to begin work on a book covering its history.
Up to 30 students also professed their commitment prior to the Vicar General bestowing the Sacrament of Confirmation on them in August, before their parents also promised to help prepare their children for the Sacrament by, among other things, regular attendance at Mass.
The packed congregation also pledged to give both prayerful and pastoral support to families of the youth preparing for their Confirmation.
Three parishioners who found St Joseph prayer cards that Fr Thai had slipped randomly into parish bulletins were presented with Living Biblically, the book written by Archbishop Barry Hickey on the links between the New and Old Testament inspired by his recent trips to the Holy Land.
Fr Thai, who did his pastoral placement at Willetton parish when a student at St Charles Seminary in Guildford, also spoke briefly on the Year for Priests which closed last month, urging parishioners to continue to support priests both pastorally and in prayer, as “we too are only human”.
He also displayed after the Mass two plaques made by a parishioner which displays the names of all the parish’s priests. One of these is Fr Richard Rutkauskas, who started the parish’s successful Stewardship initiative after attending a conference on it in Sydney.
After the Eucharist, Fr Thai also tweaked the parish’s tradition of children approaching the sanctuary for a blessing by the priest, by handing the three other concelebrating priests Rosary beads to give to each child before blessing them.
The anniversary of the Willetton parish also celebrates 30 years of stability, as people living in the southern suburb had to travel to nearby suburbs before the Church of Sts John and Paul was built.
Willetton fell under Brentwood’s jurisdiction, which itself was part of the Applecross parish, then Riverton before Brentwood was named a parish itself in 1955. Two years later, Regina Coeli Church was built in Brentwood.
Prior to this, for parishioners who could not make the trip to Applecross, Mass was celebrated in homes.
In February 2009, Regina Coeli was sold and is now used by a branch of the Presbyterian Church as a place of worship – much to the relief of Willetton and Brentwood parishioners who were sorry to leave the small but much-loved church which for a time hosted perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.
Due to increased numbers, in 1980 a parish hall was built in Willetton where Mass was celebrated until the parish Church of Sts John and Paul was blessed and opened by Archbishop William Foley on 22 December 1985. The Jubilee Year of 2000 as declared by Pope John Paul II saw the construction of an immersion font for Baptism at Sts John and Paul parish. Carved from a solid block of Donnybrook stone, it was the first parish to have such a font, which allows for the Sacrament of Baptism to be celebrated by pouring or immersion.
The water continually flows, reminding the faithful that Jesus is the life giving water.
On reflecting on the parish’s 30 years, Mgr O’Loughlin urged the faithful to consider – along with all the prayers offered up of contrition and thanks – all the Sacraments bestowed at the parish that have enhanced the parish life:
– Baptism, praying that all who have been baptised in the parish will be faithful to the calling as followers of Christ,
– Reconciliation, praying for all who have been called away from sin in the Sacrament and renewed their following of Christ and that they may be strengthened by it,
– First Holy Communion, praying that those who have received it will be nourished to be stronger followers of Christ to fulfill their role as members of His body,
– Confirmation, praying that those upon whom the Holy Spirit’s seven gifts have been bestowed go forth and be the Spirit’s medium to others in daily life,
– Matrimony, praying that those who have been married in the parish mirror faithfully the image of Christ and His Church,
– Anointing of the Sick, and those who have walked with parishioners in the final stage of their earthly journey, and
– Requiem Masses, where parishioners entrusted the deceased to God’s mercy.
In the spirit of the Gospel of the day, the Monsignor also urged the parishioners to pray to discern the signs of the times to see how God is inspiring them to respond to the needs in the parish.
The anniversary, he said, is a time to “take stock” and think of any unaddressed needs for which parish groups parish can cater.
The next four editions of The Word parish newsletter will have special feature articles from longstanding parishioners and from its various groups.