Holy Family Catholic Parish is a big, vibrant, multicultural parish on Sydney’s south-western outskirts and while its people come from a wide range of cultural backgrounds, they are one body in Christ and committed to continually growing as a missionary parish.

The parish is comprised of the two communities of Ingleburn and Minto. Fr Henry Adler SVD has been parish priest there since 2022.

Holy Family Parish at Ingleburn sits right alongside its neighbouring parish of Macquarie Fields, which is also under the pastoral care of the Divine Word Missionaries.

Fr Henry, who is a former Provincial of the SVD Australia Province, and who celebrated 40 years in religious vows this year, and marked his 25^th anniversary of ordination this month, said the parish contains many aspects of the SVD charism.

“It is a very multicultural parish,” he said. “There are many Filipinos, Indians, Pacific Islanders, Slovaks, Poles and Maltese and Italian people here.

“I would say there would be at least 80 per cent of parishioners who are from a non-Anglo Australian background.

“It’s also a very active parish. We are blessed to have a beautiful music ministry with Filipino and Pacific Islander choirs.

“And the people are very committed to preparing beautiful liturgies.”

Fr Henry was the first parish priest appointed to the parish since the retirement in August 2020 of Fr Peter Caruana who was parish priest for 36 years. Fr Peter died in August 2021. Prior to Fr Henry’s appointment, Fr Sean Cullen was administrator of the parish.

“The people have been very welcoming and warm and I’m really happy to be a part of this community,” he said.

“It’s also wonderful that we have the richness of two communities within our parish – at Ingleburn and Minto.”

Fr Henry said the Minto community, based at Holy Trinity Church is also the base for the Aboriginal Catholic Ministry in Wollongong Diocese.

In 1984, Sisters Patricia Murphy and Kerry MacDermott of Our Lady’s Nurses for the Poor (The Brown Sisters) took up residence at Minto in a Department of Housing house so as to live alongside and minister to the surrounding suburbs of the Macarthur area—offering friendship and support in people’s homes to those in crisis, or in need of long-term support, including listening to people, advocating for them and offering bereavement and night phone support.

Sr Patricia passed away in 2018. Sr Kerry, along with Aunty Muriel Brandy and other Aboriginal friends, began the Aboriginal Catholic Ministry in 1985 from the Holy Trinity Church, with the approval of Bishop William Murray and Fr Peter Caruana. It is a place where the Aboriginal community feel welcome and appreciated.

“So, there are many wonderful aspects of our parish and I’m looking forward to the whole community growing together as one parish, while retaining those two distinct communities,” he said.

Fr Henry said he had received a positive response when introducing “some of the things that are a part of the SVD charism, namely, a missionary spirit and a focus on the Word of God among the people”.

One of those aspects of the SVD charism is growing strongly in the Holy Family Parish, with Bible sharing now being a regular part of the parish’s weekly activities.

‘Friday with the Word of God’ is an initiative which sees a group of parishioners spend an hour together on Friday evenings sharing the Sunday Gospel reading, discussing it, and asking, ‘What is the mission for us from this reading?’

In Lent and Advent, the group spends time with the scriptural resources prepared by the Diocese of Wollongong for those seasons.

A second group has also started, called ‘Reading of the Word of God’ in which the members have committed to reading from an agreed book of the Bible each day at home and then meeting every two weeks to share what the reading has done in their hearts.

“When they meet, the group leader gives a bit of background on the part of the Bible they are going to read, and then they have a discussion,” Fr Henry said. “And those meetings always end with a cup of tea or coffee together.

“So, Bible ministry is prominent in our parish in the context of it being a Divine Word parish and we hope it will continue to grow.”

Missionary outreach to the local community is also important at Holy Family Parish.

A small but active St Vincent de Paul group reaches out to those in need in the local community and the parish supports their activities through the annual Christmas and Winter Vinnies Appeals. At Christmas, parishioners are also able to commit to donating items to be shared with those in need.

The parish has 17 catechists who go out to local public schools to share the Word of God with those students who might not be so regularly connected to the parish community.

“We are really blessed to have these catechists who reach out to share their faith in this way,” Fr Henry said.

An important part of the parish community is the Holy Family Catholic School.

Fr Henry said the school and the parish have a close relationship through the sacramental programs, but also through weekly class Masses held in the church.

“I also go to the school every Friday morning and I meet with every class regularly and the teachers and we get to know each other,” he said.

Building on this, Fr Henry said a youth group is now getting underway in the parish, meeting every two weeks for movie nights, fun activities and shared faith.

“It’s only just started in August, but it’s going well, and we hope it will continue to build and grow and gain prominence within the parish,” he said.

The multicultural character of Holy Family Parish is celebrated in a host of ways, with one of the most spectacular being the annual Lord of Miracles procession.

“This is a big celebration for the Peruvian community and people come not only from around Sydney and Wollongong, but other parts of Australia too, to take part,” Fr Henry said.

The Lord of Miracles (in Spanish: Señor de los Milagros), is associated with a painting of Christ crucified venerated in Lima, Peru. The image was painted during the 17th century by Benito or Pedro Dalcon, an African taken from what is now Angola to Peru as a slave. An annual procession commemorating the image occurs every October. It is one of the oldest Catholic traditions in Peru. It is one of the largest religious processions in the world. (Wikipedia)

Fr Henry said the local version of the procession occurs on the third Sunday of October every year and is a major event not only for the Peruvian and Latin American community but for the whole parish community.

“It attracts about 300-400 people, from around Sydney and interstate,” he said. “There is the procession and Mass and then a festival with food, dancing and singing.

“The festival has been held at Holy Family Parish for some years and we are very happy to support it because I believe that migrants are the future of our Church and as SVDs, we embrace migrant communities.

“One of our missionary tasks as SVDs is to care for migrants and refugees and for these communities, festivals like this are important, and so by our parish hosting celebrations like this we also seek to encourage them to be connected to their local church and be involved with mission among themselves and to celebrate their faith together, especially through their families.”

PHOTOS

TOP RIGHT: Holy Family Church at Ingleburn.

TOP LEFT: Large congregations gather to worship inside the beautiful Church.

MIDDLE RIGHT: Parishioners gather to share the Word of God at one of the parish's Bible Sharing Groups.

MIDDLE LEFT: Parishioners watch on as Fr Henry Adler SVD cuts the cake to celebrate his Silver Jubilee of Ordination.

BOTTOM RIGHT: Cultural dancing at the Parish Fair.

BOTTOM LEFT: Hundreds of people gathered for the annual Lord of Miracles procession.