From the very young to the very old, parishioners of Good Shepherd Parish in Kelmscott gathered for the final time last Saturday evening with current and former clergy on their Church’s last official occasion as their parish Church.
Parish Priest Fr Andrew Lotton – the driving force behind the building of the new Good Shepherd Church – Assistant Priest Fr Marcello Para Gonzalez, former Parish Priest Fr Lionel Henry SDB (Archbishop Costelloe’s only other fellow Salesian in WA) and Archbishop Emeritus Barry Hickey led Vespers with a small congregation, some of whom had been in the parish when the first Church was built.
It was a bittersweet occasion as those present effectively farewelled the humble but greatly loved brick and tile Church which has seen countless baptisms, weddings, funerals and masses celebrated within its walls over the decades.
First built in a locality strongly populated with post-War Italian migrants, among others, the first baptisms and weddings celebrated in Good Shepherd were in 1963 – 50 years before the opening of the new Church.
Among many others present on the evening were parish couple Neville and Wendy Voysey – mainstays of the parish community. Mr Voysey has been a longserving acolyte and was the other driving force behind completion of the new parish Church.