Catholic Outlook Magazine Autumn 2021

Parish profile:
Mary Immaculate Parish,
Quakers Hill-Schofields
By Mary Brazell
The parishioners of Mary
Immaculate Parish,
Quakers Hill-Schofields,
celebrated 100 years in
2020. Post pandemic,
they are looking forward
to rebuilding their parish
community.
My vision for the
parish is that
parishioners are
involved in the
process of decisionmaking,
and that
they take ownership
of the church
When Mercee Malig migrated to
Australia in 1988, one of her first
priorities was to find a Catholic church.
She was looking for familiar,
welcoming, warm faces for herself
and her children.
She was able to find that amongst
the community of Mary Immaculate
Parish, Quakers Hill-Schofields, a
parish of people from at least 19
nationalities. She’s now secretary of
the parish finance committee.
“Each nationality is welcomed to
celebrate their national days, like
the Feast of Our Lady of Lanka in
February,” Mercee explains.
Parish secretary Aylyn Yu adds, “The
people as a community are warm and
welcoming. You feel it every time you
walk in to the church, people always
greet you and ask how you are.
There’s a strong relationship amongst
the community.”
Parish Priest Fr Oliver Aro MSP, who
arrived in 2019, wants to make sure
parishioners feel the parish belongs
to them.
“My vision for the parish is that
parishioners are involved in the process
of decision-making, and that they take
ownership of the church,” he says.
“Priests come and go, but the people
have the experience of belonging to
parish, and it is them working with
their priest to prepare for the future. I
want them to know their opinions will
be respected and acknowledged.”
Parish administration assistant
Marthese Sultana explains, “Fr Oliver
visits as many people as he possibly
can, and he is always there for us.”
More renovations are expected in the
parish but were put on hold due to
the pandemic. They will be revisited
once people are back and more
fully connected to the parish. At the
same time, Aylyn sees the level of
volunteering as heart-warming.
“You are inspired that some people
have very little, but give wholly of
themselves, which inspires you to do
more as well,” she says.
Like many parishes, Mary Immaculate
dealt with the ever-changing
restrictions surrounding the pandemic,
with livestreamed Masses and
outdoor celebrations. With Easter
approaching, they hope people will
come back.
“Easter is a significant moment for
people to experience the joy of the
presence of God. There is always
beauty in the Easter celebration,” Fr
Oliver says.
Ryan Hutton, president of the pastoral
council says, “Coming out of COVID,
we need to re-engage and reevangelise
people. We need to reach
out to those people in the community
and bring them back.
“The church shouldn’t just be a place
of worship; it should be a genuine
community.”
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