Sacred Heart Parish, Cambooya |
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Contact: Fr Rod MacGinley |
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Pastoral Director: Jim Fitzgerald |
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| Phone: | 07 4696 1169 | ||
| Office Location: | Eton Street | Postal Address: | PO Box 8 |
| Cambooya | Cambooya 4358 | ||
| Office Hours: | |||
| Mass Times: | Sacred Heart Church, Cambooya | ||
2nd Sunday |
9:00am |
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| St Joseph's Church, Greenmount | 10:00am | ||
| 1st Saturday 3rd Sunday |
5:00pm 9:00am |
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| Ecumenical Service | |||
| 5th Sunday (Rotation among Anglican/Catholic/Uniting Communities) | 10:30am | ||
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| Parish Contacts: | Contact Number | ||
Pastoral Council - Allan Stenzel |
07 4697 1196 | ||
Liturgy Coordinator - John Kunde |
07 4696 1131 |
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| Care & Concern - Michelle Turvey | 07 4697 2257 | ||
| Baptism - Kathy Stenzel | 07 4697 1196 |
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| Reconciliation & Confirmation - Marion Bernier | 07 4696 1152 | ||
Cambooya Parish History:We are blessed with the fact that the first Mass on the Downs was probably said in our area when Dr. John Bede Polding Archbishop of Australia visited Eton Vale Station in July 1843. The pastoral runs were broken up for closer settlement in 1870 and one of the settlers at East Greenmount (Emu Creek at that time) was John Ryan with his, wife Mary who selected land in Stenzel Rd. A Mass centre was established in Ryan's home where Mass was said every 3 months. John always killed a bullock to be able to feed them before they went back home. When he moved to Mt Kent in 1884, a church was built at Emu Creek, on the highway. It was sold in 1958, after the new church was built in Greenmount and eventually moved from the site in the early 1970's. In the late 1860's, the townships of Wyreema, Cambooya & Greenmount began to grow. Mass was celebrated at a home and later in the hall at Wyreema. Keating's Hotel or the Court House (now the Police Station) at Cambooya as well as the church at East Greenmount. A church was built in Cambooya in 1909. Priests from St Patrick's continued to supply Mass until the Cambooya - Greenmount Parish was established on Sunday 5th March 1951. Father Bill McCormack, as our first PP, set about a building programme, which consisted of diligent fund raising. He organised monthly dances, Cambooya & Greenmount turn about, a St Patrick's Concert & a Deb Ball at Cambooya, a Springtime Ball at Greenmount, a Fete in each centre and numerous house parties with euchre a big event at the dances & parties. Each of these functions had a raffle and after Sunday Mass he would come to the Altar Rails, get someone to pass out the raffle books and he would organise who would be in charge of jobs concerning the next function. He would also "organise" someone to provide the prizes for the next rattle. When the time came to build the Presbytery & later the Greenmount church, the working bees were organised in similar fashion. He had the menfolk of the Parish doing all the work for each of these buildings under the supervision of Jim Gallagher, a builder. All of this activity formed a strong community, even though he used the rivalry between the two districts to his advantage. Father Prior, 1958 -1962 and then Father Sinnott followed as PPs. Father Sinnott built the new church at Cambooya. It is important to note that all of these three buildings were opened free of debt. When Father Maher came in 1971, he found a vibrant community of whom he could say that 95% were Sunday Mass goers, and he worried about the remaining 5%. Father died three days before our Deb Ball 1979 and when the debs were presented that night our thoughts were with our dearly beloved but absent PP. Father Herzig stepped into Father Maher's shoes and was our hard working and loved PP until his retirement in 1990. He was a believer in doing things himself and built the shed behind the Presbytery, built the toilets, improved the kitchen & repaired the windows in the hall, and carried out maintenance on all the buildings - including the painting. Father Kane was with us from 1990 until 1996. By this time the exodus to the city was hitting our area hard. He prepared us for the time when we would no loner have a resident PP. He also began the Ecumenical tradition in the Parish. Religious instruction for the children before we were a Parish was provided by the Mercy Sisters coming with the Priest and teaching the children before and after Mass. Fr McCormack brought the Sisters out for a week during the August school holidays, to brave the cold wind on the Cambooya flat and teach the children gathered around the Cambooya church. The Missionary Sisters of Service worked in the Parish under Fr Sinnott. Fr Maher invited the Schoenstatt Sisters to work as Catechists in the schools and they supervised the catechists until they left the Diocese. Judith Fitzgerald and then Helen Riethmuller have worked hard with our children since then. Following Fr Kane's departure, the Parish has been ably administered by the Parish Council under the leadership of Jim Fitzgerald. Father Thomas was appointed PP of both Clifton & Cambooya Parishes in 2001. |
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