When Fr Aloysius Nato SVD first arrived in Melbourne in July 2010, he spotted a beautiful church from his car window and was told it was Sacred Heart Preston, an SVD parish. Ten years later, he was appointed to serve in that parish – only it was during the Covid lockdown period and there were no parishioners in the pews.
Four years down the track, the parish has returned to full life again and is putting in place action plans to realise its ambition of becoming a vibrant faith community and a missionary parish.
Sacred Heart Parish was established in 1914 and has been served by numerous priests since then. In September 2008, the parish was entrusted to the care of the Divine Word Missionaries.
Fr Aloysius, the parish priest, says the parish is blessed to have a diverse community, made up of both high-income earners and the unemployed, young married couples, blended families, single parent families, empty-nesters, traditional families, singles, children, teens, university educated professionals and seniors.
There is also a mix of English and non-English speakers and recent migrants, with an increasing number of parishioners from India, the Philippines and Vietnam.
Fr Aloysius said the Sacred Heart Parish is on a journey towards becoming a missionary parish.
“There are two important documents that inspire and encourage me and the community to work toward a missionary parish: Pope Francis’ Encyclical, Evangelii Gaudium and Archbishop Peter A. Comensoli’s Pastoral Letter ‘Take the way of the Gospel’, published in May 2021,” he said.
“Pope Francis’ words challenge pastors and parishes around the world to be more creative in finding new ways of doing the church mission,” Fr Aloysius said.
“Surely, the Pope speaks from his own experience. He is known for his pastoral approach that puts emphasis on a joyful mission, a warm and beautiful church, a missionary and merciful church, a poor church with and for the poor and a discerning, pilgrim church.
“Such pastoral style touches deeply Catholics and non- Catholics around the world for it shows a genuine concern for others. Pope Francis’ pastoral approach is a model for building a missionary parish where members experience a true joy, feeling welcomed, accepted and included.”
Fr Aloysius said that Archbishop Comensoli’s ‘Take the Way of the Gospel’, was written in response to Pope Francis’ dream of “missionary option” (Evangelii Gaudium 27), and is a call to a radical restructure of Melbourne Archdiocese to bring vitality back to parishes.
“To achieve this ambition, parishes will be formed into a ‘family of communities’ called ‘Missions’ and the ‘use of material and ministerial resources’ will be managed effectively. The radical structure will hopefully, transform parishes to be more vibrant, vital and viable,” he said.
In his document, Archbishop Comensoli says a parish is vibrant when it becomes a life-giving community that foster holiness and discipleship among its members, joyfully desiring to share the gift of faith in Jesus Christ with those they encounter. In the vibrant parish each member is valued for their calls and gifts and are assisted to live out their call and sharing their gifts. The five characteristics of vibrant parish are: worship, evangelisation, fellowship, formation, and service (Acts 2:42- 47). Moreover, a parish is vital when it is capable of reading signs of the time with hope and missionary vision. Finally, a parish is viable when it exercises an effective stewardship over parish resources, including finance, land and properties for the service of proclaiming the Gospel.
Fr Aloysius said that when looking through the lens of those two documents, he is optimistic that Sacred Heart Parish is slowly moving from a ‘maintenance’ church to a missionary church.
“Our strength is in the power of the Holy Spirit and willingness of the community members to journey together,” he said.
“The goal of our parish is to assist members individually and communally to nourish their faith to achieve a living communion with God and to transform our parish into a welcoming, understanding, loving and sharing community.
“Like the rest of the world, we went through the Covid-19 pandemic. The multiple and strict lockdowns have deprived many church members of their spiritual life and sense of belonging to the parish. The pastoral activities post pandemic mostly aim at attracting members to return to the church community.
“The parish also makes long-term plans and action plans that will step by step transform the parish into becoming more vibrant, vital and viable.”
Fr Aloysius said that empowering lay people is at the heart of building a missionary parish.
“Many lay people are of great talents and expertise and can be our partners in building a missionary parish,” he said.
“Our parish has taken some simple steps like involvement of the Parish Pastoral Council and Finance Committee in the management of the church resources. In the last two years we have empowered a group of lay people to prepare Lenten and Advent reflections. Hopefully, some bigger steps can be considered in the future.”
Key planks in the parish’s action plan include: Improving the Liturgy; Community Bonding; Safeguarding; Effective Stewardship of Parish Resources; Collaboration with Sacred Heart Primary School; Empowerment of Lay People; and Care for Our Common Home.
One of the first parts of the action plan to get underway was the forming of a Liturgy Committee, along with training and ongoing formation.
“The purpose is to bring back the beauty and dignity of the Liturgy so that members may experience an uplifting liturgy,” Fr Aloysius said.
“The group has so far been working well. Apart from planning for Sunday Masses, the group is also making plans for the Parish Feast Day Mass, Lenten Prayers and reflections, Mass of the Anointing of the Sick, Holy Week and Easter Liturgies and Christmas Mass.
A Social Planning Committee has also been formed to help make Sacred Heart Parish the welcoming, understanding, loving and sharing community it dreams of being.
“The Committee’s task is to plan and organise activities to assist members, including newcomers, strengthen their bond and sense of belonging to parish. So far, the group has done a great job,” Fr Aloysisus said.
Parishioner and member of the Social Planning Committee, Ophelia, said the group consists of a team of between six to 13 people at any one time.
“The aim was to restart community building activities so that the community can grow together socially and in faith,” she said.
After formation, the first event the group organised was the celebration lunch after Mass on the Feast of Sacred Heart. The gathering was a big success, with just under 200 parishioners and their guests attending.
“It was wonderful to see a packed hall, filled with food from a multitude of cultures, demonstrating the theme of one heart many faces of the day, as the parishioners mingled with one another, watched the entertainment on display from parishioners themselves, and played bingo,” Ophelia said.
Since then, the group has coordinated trivia and karaoke nights, a dinner dance, a Christmas craft competition, a Mission Sunday family fun-day and a cherry-picking outing dubbed ‘a Cherry Christmas’.
“Each event has targeted a different niche of the parish community, aiming to cater to the different tastes of the many ‘faces’ of the Sacred Heart Parish Community,” she said.
Safeguarding is another priority, with all volunteers, paid staff and priests required to have a Working with Children Check and/or a police check (if required to have both). They must also attend the Safeguarding Induction and sign a Declaration and Code of Conduct.
“The purpose is to ensure the safety of all in the Church,” Fr Aloysius said. “This also gives confidence to the staff and volunteers in their service to God’s people.”
Fr Aloysius said while the parish is not a rich one, it owns many properties. Due to lack of funding, some of the properties are not well-maintained. Others are being rented out free of charge.
The Finance Committee and Parish Pastoral Council are involved in making decisions relating to the good stewardship of the parish properties, finance and land.
“This ensures transparency and accountability of the steward, the Parish Priest,” he said. The parish also employs a property manager to manage the properties and deal with tenants.
A highlight of parish life is the collaboration with Sacred Heart Primary School.
“The SHP community is blessed to have a good collaboration with Sacred Heart Primary School,” Fr Aloysius said. “The Principal, Mark Tierney, is doing a wonderful job and is also a member of the Parish Council.
“The parish and the school take turns to host a cuppa after Sunday Mass. Teachers, students and parents often take part in the parish celebrations like the parish feast day and Mission Sunday activities.”
To show its seriousness about promoting Care for Our Common Home, the parish has formed a Laudato Si Group.
“In the past three years the group has conducted many activities such as Mass, prayers and reflections on the global warming, blessing of animals, watching the movie ‘The Letter’, followed by a youth discussion on the importance of care for our common home,” Fr Aloysius said.
Parishioner Nathalie Bharan is part of the Sacred Heart Parish Laudato Si’ Circle, which was formed in 2021 and said the group felt inspired to dual action: Firstly in sharing Pope Francis’ Laudato Si’ message of hope and secondly, in active works to create a Laudato Si’ parish.
“The group is a member of Catholic Earthcare and has signed up to the Laudato Si Action Platform,” Nathalie said. “There are exciting plans, such as investment in solar power, contemplative walks in nature and engaging with youth … there’s no shortage of ideas, the harvest is truly plentiful!”
PHOTOS
TOP RIGHT: The beautiful Sacred Heart church in Preston, Melbourne, built in 1914.
MIDDLE LEFT: Fr Aloysius Nato SVD celebrates Mass at Sacred Heart Parish.
MIDDLE RIGHT: The parish Social Committee organised a day out cherry picking among a range of community-building activities.
BOTTOM LEFT: Sacred Heart Parish also has a Laudato Si' Circle which has organised a range of activities to promote Care of Our Common Home.