Story By: Damien Morgan

When someone steps down from a position and leaves a role they have been working in for more than 20 years, many changes will be noticed, and probably not all at first. So it will be in Dalby, as Narelle McIntyre has retired from her position in the Parish Office, some 24 years after being hired by Fr Hal Ranger to produce the Parish Newsletter back in November 1999.

We all understand that nobody is irreplaceable, but it’s the “invisible” parts of a job that someone will have to pick up. Narelle was employed to produce the newsletter but soon picked up an extra day a week in the Parish Office to attend to administrative matters such as keeping the Parish Register up to date and organising rosters. But there is more to the role than what the job description might state.

Providing greenery for the Church, sourcing candles of a particular shade of mauve for Advent, liturgical season preparations, and organising guest speakers and cooking for parish events such as Churches Together, just for starters.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Narelle took the lead in ensuring that all protocols were strictly followed for masses, for cleaning the Church and parish toilets, for visitors to the office and so on. There was even a Garage Sale conducted under COVID restrictions.

Her work for the Church Centenary celebrations was vital. As secretary of the committee, she had all the normal tasks of minuting meetings and making sure all committee members were kept in the loop, but there were also hours of research for the history, as well as proofreading the text of “The Gem of the West”. She found the appropriate tradespeople to restore St Joseph’s stained glass windows. Rolled up her sleeves to assist with the restoration of the bell and cleaning and painting the bell tower, and approached and organised older parishioners to be interviewed by students of Our Lady of the Southern Cross College. All this, and found the time to produce a brilliant self-guided tour leaflet of St Joseph’s and its grounds.

After Fr Hal, Narelle worked with Fr Michael Cooney and Fr Jim Cronin as Parish Priests at Dalby.

Back to the task she was originally employed to do: the weekly Parish Newsletter. Over 24 years, some 1200 issues have been produced. Each week, some 140 copies are printed for Dalby, and another 20 are printed for Bell. In years gone by, many more were produced. All up, that’s somewhere close to a quarter of a million sheets to be printed and folded; not just a gargantuan task, but just think of the risk of paper cuts!

Thank you, Narelle. You will be missed from St Joseph’s Parish Office. Enjoy your retirement.