CO_Mar17_WEB

PARISH PROFILE
Parish community shares
Carmelite charism
By Jordan Grantham
OUR LADY OF MOUNT Carmel Parish
at Wentworthville is a thriving
part of the Diocese of Parramatta.
The church building is now in its 60 th
year and the community has a unique
legacy, having shared the Carmelite order’s
spirituality with tens of thousands of people.
In 2002, the relic of St Therese of Lisieux
toured Australia and was hosted by Our Lady
of Mount Carmel Parish.
Tens of thousands flocked to see and pray
before ‘The Little Flower’.
Lyn Bryant has been the Parish Secretary
for almost 30 years. The visit of St Therese
has been a highlight of her time in the parish.
“In excess of 30,000 people came
through our church,” she said. “It was
really well organised and worked like
clockwork,” with police, traffic controllers
and volunteers present.
Many had an opportunity to express
devotion to St Therese and pray for those in
Under the cross carved by a local artist is a stone from
Stella Maris Monastery on Mount Carmel.
Shrine of Our Lady of Mercy
Penrose Park
Monday 13 March 2017
Fatima Day
Exposition – 10am, Solemn Mass – 11am,
1.30pm – procession and devotions at Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes.
Principal Celebrant: Rev. Fr. Stanislaw Kluk, csma
Provincial Superior of the Congregation of Michaelites
Parish Priest of the Holy Spirit Parish, North Ryde
No Fatima Day April 13 – Holy Thursday
need. Some people have claimed miraculous
healing following the visit.
There were “things that tug at your heart
strings,” Lyn said. A waist height basket
was provided for people to place notes with
special prayer intentions and it was filled.
“Some people brought pictures of children,
obviously in terrible distress, with messages
attached,” she said.
When they shut the church at midnight,
there was a moment of great stillness and
peace when only Lyn, her friend Diane and
the clergy were present with St Therese.
World Youth Day 2008 was another
highlight when many Americans stayed in
the parish. Lyn recalls giving pilgrims brown
scapulars, a popular devotion to Our Lady of
Mount Carmel.
A parish appeal is underway to provide
new furnishings for the altar when the
planned refurbishment of the church is
completed later this year.
The church has a beautiful organ,
purchased more than 40 years ago from
An appeal is underway to fund the reburbishment of the church and new altar furnishings.
We regret to inform that due to the Fatima Day in April falling on Holy Thursday we are compelled
to announce that there will be no Fatima Day celebrations on this day. We would like to advise all
of our Pilgrims about the opportunity of participating in the Mass of the Lord’s Supper, marking
the beginning of the Most Sacred Triduum, in your own parish. And we, God willing, will see you
in May for the Jubilee celebrations of Fatima Day – Feast of Our Lady of Fatima (13 May)
Pauline Fathers’ Monastery
Address: 120 Hanging Rock Road, Sutton Forest, NSW, 2577 Phone: 02 4878 9192
Email: paulinefathers@yahoo.com.au
Website: www.penrosepark.com.au
20 CatholicOutlook MARCH 2017 www.catholicoutlook.org
Parish Secretary Lyn Bryant with Fr Martinho Da Costa OCarm, who is from the East Timor Province of the Carmelite Fathers.
Photos: Jordan Grantham.
an old church in the UK. On display in the
parish centre under a cross carved by a local
artist is a stone from Stella Maris Monastery
on Mount Carmel in Israel.
The monastery dates from the 12 th Century
and contains the cave of the Prophet Elijah,
patron and founder of the Carmelite order.
Lyn has seen the demographic of the parish
community grow and change over the years.
A parishioner, whose family has a
landscape gardening business, created a
Memorial Garden on the Garfield Street
side of the church. Granite slabs have been
An Amazing Story
Of Conversion
For fourteen years Geraldine has shared, in
Australia, the USA, Ireland, New Zealand and
recently France, her near death experience of
Jesus and Mary.
She went from living as a lapsed Catholic to
being convinced that God and Heaven really
existed and now wanted to go there at any
cost. “To suffer here is nothing compared to
the joy that awaits”. “How happy my heart
is that the mercy of Our Divine Master is so
great”.
Her messages from Jesus and Mary are for
these times. Her talks strengthen faith, give
courage and hope; people have received
healings, physical and spiritual, including from addiction.
mounted on the wall, where parishioners
are able to place memorial plaques in
remembrance of loved ones.
“You don’t realise just how much it means
to people,” Lyn said. It provides closure for
some and for others, a place to come to and
spend quiet time with their memories.
On the eastern side of the church is
the Carmelite Priory, the home of the
Carmelite priests who care for the parish,
as well housing the administration centre
of the parish.
In residence are the Parish Priest, Fr Denis
Andrew OCarm, Assistant Priests Fr John
Powell OCarm and Fr Martinho Da Costa
OCarm, and Fr Anthony Scerri OCarm, who
is priest in residence.
Fr Martinho is from the East Timor
Province of the Carmelite Fathers and has
been at the parish for about nine months.
“I enjoy the parish, it’s very vibrant,” he
said. “You get to know a lot of the parents
whose children attend Our Lady of Mount
Carmel Primary School next door.”
In East Timor, “the Faith is simpler, it’s a
less developed country,” he said.
Fr Martinho said East Timor has huge
rosary pilgrimages on the Feast of Our Lady
of Fatima on 13 October. The month of May
is also devoted to Mary.
Our Lady of Mount Carmel Primary
School was founded by the Sisters of Mercy
in 1920. With the retirement of Sr Margaret
Harrison RSM in 2004, a lay principal was
appointed for the first time. Prior to this, the
principal had always been a Mercy sister.
If you would like Geraldine to speak to your Parish or home group,
or if you wish to order books, DVDs or medals then please contact Christine
tel 0423 356 506 or visit the website www.divine-inspirations.org