Perth - The new St. Joseph Syro Malabar church in Perth was blessed on Saturday 12th February 2022.
The blessing of the new church saw the fulfilment of a dream of the large number of Catholic families in the Perth parish. The new church, Parish Hall and Vicarage are built on a 6 acre area in the suburb of Orange Grove.
Bishop Bosco Puthur, the bishop of the diocese of Melbourne, was not able to attend the formal blessing ceremony due to the covid 19 restrictions. The blessing was hence done by the vicar Fr. Anish James, concelebrated with Vincentian priests Rev Fathers Varghese Parackal, Sabu Kalapurackal, Thomas Mankuthel and Manoj Kannamthadathil. The ceremony started with reading of the message from Bishop Bosco Puthur. A formal, elaborate ceremony will be held later.
The bishop congratulated the leadership of vicar Fr.James Anish and the parish community for their prayers and collective efforts in accomplishing their mission. He urged them to carry on their unity and remain in god’s love.
After the blessing, Fr Varghese Parackal who was the first parish priest and currently the director of the Vincentian Retreat Centre, preached the Word of God. In his message Father Varghese reminded the parishioners that the new church will remain as a symbol of the unity and prayers of the parish community. The first mass in the new church was celebrated by Father Sabu Kalapurackal as the main celebrant. It was attended by the faithful from other nearby parishes as well as priests from churches of other denominations.
Fr Anish thanked all the families, committees and people who worked together for the building of the church.
During the last ten years, the Malayali Catholics used to use the Maddington Holy Family church of the Perth dioceses, for their prayers and ceremonies.
Though the year 2021 was observed as the year of St Joseph and the new church was ready, the blessing ceremony was delayed until now due to the covid restrictions. The hall and vicarage were blessed a month earlier and was already functioning.
It was in 2015 that the land in Orange Grove was bought for building the church. In 2019 the contract to build the facility was signed and the work started in 2020.
The efforts of the church building committee, building core committee, parish council finance committee, church furniture committee and finance committee which worked with the parish priest to accomplish the goal was commendable.