In a church built in 1971 for a largely Irish congregation, a new statue of a “saint for everyone” stands in its special alcove, ready to greet all Cloverdale Mass-goers.
Cloverdale Parish priest Fr Nelson Po says the number of migrants at Notre Dame Parish is gradually increasing and that a new statue of Australia’s first saint, St Mary of the Cross MacKillop, will aid the faith of everyone.
“It will be very helpful for the entire parish to venerate and see St Mary MacKillop as a saint for our Church and will help us to be more attuned to the life, faith and teaching of Mary MacKillop,” Fr Po said.
Fr Nelson Po hails originally from the Philippines. He was ordained in Kalgoorlie in 2005 before stints at St Mary’s Church, Kalgoorlie, and at Royal Perth Hospital as a chaplain.
The Cloverdale parish is made up largely of Anglo-Celtic Australians but also migrants from South Africa, India, Kenya, Italy and Singapore, among other places.
Measuring around 80cm high, the Sydney-made statue of Mary MacKillop was an unsolicited gift from a family in the parish.
In gifting the statue, the family wanted to remain anonymous; a request Fr Po has respected. They did, however, attend the unveiling and blessing of the fibreglass statue at the 10am Sunday Mass on 7 August, the day before Mary MacKillop’s first feast as an official saint in Australia.
Children from the parish’s children’s liturgy group participated in the celebration, holding up picture cards in honour of the saint.
Three religious sisters from the order Mary MacKillop founded – the Sisters of St Joseph of the Sacred Heart, or the Josephites – were in attendance: Srs Dora Maguire, Maureen Willans and Eileen Johnson RSJ.