Mary Mother of the Church Parish in Macquarie Fields on Sydney’s southern outskirts is a warm and vibrant multicultural community of faith, which aims to keep growing in mission and love.

Parish Priest, Fr Bosco Son SVD, says the parish, which is part of the Diocese of Wollongong, is both geographically and numerically large, and continues to grow and expand because of new housing developments, and it is this growth which helps make it such an active parish.

The parish includes people from a variety of cultures, including Slovaks, Indians, Filipinos, Indonesians, Koreans, Croatians, and people from different countries in Africa, Asia and the Pacific Islands, as well as Australians of Anglo-Saxon background.

“We are proud of this rich cultural tapestry,” Fr Bosco says. “This multicultural aspect allows the parish to focus on the value and giftedness of the people that come to share in one faith.

“The different cultures bring the parish community together and make it more interesting and enriching as they actively participate in the various ministries of the parish and its multicultural events.”

This multicultural character is celebrated each year on the Parish Multicultural Day, which is usually marked in September in honour of the birthday of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The day begins with a solemn procession of the statue of Mother Mary around the parish grounds before Mass. Afterwards there is shared food, fun and live entertainment provided by parishioners from various multicultural backgrounds.

Other big social events on the parish calendar include Christmas Carols where the parish’s choir groups conduct a festive and joyous evening.

“We are blessed with fabulous choirs that reflect the rich cultural diversity of our parish,” Fr Bosco says. “We have five choir groups taking care of weekend masses and special occasions. We also have a Children’s Choir which sings on the First Sunday of the month at 8am Mass, and our Indonesian Choir supports the Indonesian Mass scheduled for every second Sunday of the month.”

Another popular social event is the Parish Dinner Dance.

“This event is organised to bring our parish community together for an evening of fellowship, fun and dancing, strengthening the bonds within our diverse congregation,” Fr Bosco says.

Devotions within the parish include weekly Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, praying of the Rosary and Bible study. Sunday School is also held for children every Sunday during the 10am Mass.

Fr Bosco prioritises pastoral care of the elderly, making regular visits to people at Whiddon Easton Park Aged Care and Campbelltown Hospital. He also celebrates a fortnightly Mass at Whiddon Easton Park and visits the sick, elderly and housebound parishioners weekly to give them Holy Communion.

He is a regular presence at St Francis Catholic College which is part of the parish, and has regular School Masses and attends various school events, ensuring that students have the opportunity to participate in the spiritual life of the school community.

There is an active and committed team of catechists serving the six state schools within the parish boundary and providing religious education to the students.

In terms of social outreach to those in need, the parish actively supports the St Vincent de Paul Society, holding a special collection annually to support their efforts in assisting the less privileged in the community.

“This partnership is a key part of our social outreach activities, reflecting our commitment to helping those in need,” Fr Bosco says. “Additionally, our parish outreach ministry offers transportation assistance for elderly and disabled parishioners as well as those without access to transportation, ensuring they can attend Mass on weekends by providing a pick-up and drop-off service using our parish bus.”

Fr Bosco says the parishioners have embraced the SVD charism, especially the focus on intercultural living, and the Mary, Mother of the Church community is committed to living the missionary vocation of all the baptised.

“There is a simple definition that helps us to understand this,” he says. “It is, ‘a missionary parish is a Christian community dedicated to the mission of the Church to reach out to those who do not know Christ or do not follow Him and lead them to become disciples of Jesus Christ and responsible members of his Church’.”

Macquarie Fields Parish is also focused on ecumenical and interfaith outreach in the local community.

“The parish community has been involved in sharing the acceptance, care, love and faith not only with Catholics, but also non-Catholics,” Fr Bosco says.

“The parishioners welcomed and allowed their Muslim brothers and sisters to come for their prayer meeting on Fridays and two other Christian groups for their worship on Sundays. Even though those people would not know about Catholicism, they do get to know us. They are also aware that we are all human beings, born to be loved and accepted even with the differences that exist in belief.

“During the pandemic, Br Jacob who is a leader of the Muslim community, supported the parish financially by insisting on paying a booking fee for the future use of the parish hall even though they were not able to have a physical prayer meeting due to the restrictions.”

Fr Bosco says while no faith community is perfect in being a missionary parish, Macquarie Fields parish is active in exploring the potential possibilities in carrying on God’s mission to everyone.

“Sometimes it may seem that the process is a bit slow, but the important thing is that it is underway already and moving at its own pace,” he says.

Fr Bosco, who was born in South Korea, lived a couple of years in Ghana and ministered in the indigenous community of Santa Teresa in Central Australia, says he has been warmly embraced by the Mary, Mother of the Church parish community since he arrived in 2017, and says the thing he loves most about the parish is its diversity.

“It is the place where we come from all over this beautiful world, from different countries, different cultures and with different ideas, but we love one God, we are one Church, we are one family. In fact, we are not perfect at all, but still learn from our imperfection to be a better parish,” he says.

The missionary outlook of the parish is clear from its sense of joy, he says, as echoed by Pope Francis, who said: “The mission of the Christian in the world is a mission for all, a mission of service, which excludes no-one; it requires great generosity and in particular the gaze and heart turned heavenward to invoke the Lord’s help. There is so much need for Christians who bear witness to the Gospel with joy in everyday life. The disciples, sent by Jesus, ‘returned with joy’. When we do this, our heart fills with joy.”

With thanks also to Veena and Edyleen from Mary, Mother of the Church parish who helped compile this information.

PHOTOS

TOP RIGHT: Fr Bosco Son SVD (far left) with parishioners and Wollongong Bishop Brian Mascord.

MIDDLE LEFT AND RIGHT: Fr Bosco in traditional dress with parishioners on the parish's Multicultural Day.

BOTTOM LEFT: One of the parish's choir groups at the Multicultural Christmas Carols.