The
Mass community from St. Maria's as part of the Edwardstown Parish will
now merge into St. Anthony's Mass Community on South
Road.
Symbolically,
the statue of the young Saint Maria is moving to a chapel in St.
Anthony's Church.
Times of
the previous St. Maria's Masses will be transferred to St. Anthony's.
Largely,
funds from the sale of St. Maria's will assist in the refurbishments
at St. Anthony's to the benefit of all now and in the future.
The
history of St. Maria's will be appended and incorporated into the
history of Edwardstown Parish.
Editorial
Comment from the Web-minister
The Church and
properties at St. Maria Goretti's, Ascot
Park are sold and closed. Final Masses at the centre were celebrated.
Sacred items and furniture have been removed and relocated.
St. Maria's has been much more than a church building. It has housed
a community of believers. Besides being a place of regular worship at
Mass, sacraments and sacred rites have been celebrated there. Children and
adults have been baptised there. At St. Maria's people have married;
celebrated first confessions and first Holy Communions plus many
subsequently, and Confirmations have been made and loved ones farewelled
at funerals.
On this site also, children received education at the school under
care of the Dominican Sisters. The hall and surrounds have been places for
community; places for festivals, of dancing, of celebrations and
gathering. In the buildings here have been many community meetings and
work undertaken by bodies like the Craft Group.
At this time it is
fitting to remember the people who have passed this way; former Parish
Priests, Dominican Sisters, and former parishioners, especially those who
have passed from this life and all those who have made St. Maria's a place
of love, a place of growth, a place of celebration and a place of special
memories.
Naturally people
from St. Maria's community will feel a sense of loss and even regret and
sorrow at the closing of this Church and centre. The closure whilst
perhaps a sad sign of the times is also a moving with the needs of the
times. We face a shortage of vocations to the priesthood. Many of our
young do not actively practise the faith. It is more practical and less
expensive to administer one church within a parish than two.
Transportation is easier these days for people to attend one parish
centre. The reasons for change are many.
Of course the
community of St. Maria's has always been a part of the Edwardstown Parish
community with many parishioners in the past having the option of
attending either St. Maria's or St. Anthony's. Now as both communities
blend into one centre at St. Anthony's on South Road we look forward to
the future as one united and vibrant community where we practise and
celebrate our faith together, reaching out from there to live and share
it. We are in exciting and challenging times looking to the redevelopment
of the St. Anthony's site as a modern and refurbished centre for all the
parish and further development of our treasured St. Anthony's Parish
School and better sharing of resources.
It is timely to reflect and build on that expression of St. Paul in
Ephesians 4:5, that there is "one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God
and Father of all" and re-expressed in a popular hymn "One church, one
faith, one Lord!"
Yes it's true; when
we think about this, it is fitting to consider that church is not about
the buildings and property. It is about people; their love of God and our
love of each other as we love ourselves. We have one Lord, one faith and
one baptism and in Edwardstown though we are many and diverse, we are one
community, one parish, one family of brothers and sisters for the one
Lord.
- Stan O'Loughlin
- Parish Web-minister
- 19th
April 2009
St. Maria Goretti's Church
has been located at 30 Wood Street, Ascot Park