The Catholic Church in Lara

Adapted from “From Duck Ponds to Lara: A collection of memories,” Lara Heritage Festival, 2004.

In 1857, Bishop Goold established the new parish of St Michael’s, Little River, to serve the community of Lara and Little River. A small bluestone church with a slate roof was erected on reserved land adjoining the present Little River Railway Station by the early parishioners. These were settlers from Scotland who had come to Australia to escape persecution in their homeland. As they preferred to use their native Gaelic, they successfully petitioned the bishop for a priest from their native land.

The Reverend Father Ronald Rankin, the first Scottish Highland priest in Victoria, was given charge of the parish, and Mass was celebrated every Sunday. Father Rankin was an uncle of Sara McDonald, mother of Saint Mary MacKillop. Mary’s uncle, Peter MacKillop of Duck Ponds, was also a member of the parish at this time.

When Father Rankin died, the parish was closed because of a shortage of priests and Mass was celebrated once every six weeks by priests from Geelong. The Little River parishioners were joined to he newly formed Parish of Williamstown and the Lara families were joined to he Geelong parish of St Mary’s. Parishioners met at a home in Caddys Road until the church in Flinders Avenue was ready in 1912. At the first Mass in the new church, a group of children received their First Communion and Confirmation, having been prepared by Father Verlin. When Mass was celebrated, the priest travelled from Melbourne or Geelong on the train and this arrangement continued until the 1940s when the community was joined to the newly-formed Norlane Parish. In 1977, the Lara Catholic community was joined to the newly-formed Parish of Corio. The Saint Anthony’s community moved into a new church at Kees Road in 1992 where the school had been operating since 1983. Originally it was intended to transport the old church to the new site. However, due to the height of the church and the danger of striking power lines, the proposal was considered unfeasible.

St Francis Xavier Catholic Parish, Corio

The parish of Corio was created from the parish of Norlane in 1976.

The first parish priest of Corio was Father Ron Lowe. Father Lowe commenced his appointment on 24th January 1976 and completed his appointment of twelve years on 30th January 1988. Prior to being appointed to the new parish of Corio, Father Lowe spent three years as a missionary in New Guinea where he used his mechanical skills to install a small hydro-electric generator for villagers. Father Lowe, a fitter and turner by trade, was a convert to Catholicism and on deciding to become priest returned to school at Assumption College, Kilmore to learn Latin before beginning his studies for the priesthood. He was ordained on 26 July 1959. A humble man with a gentle nature, he was well loved by all those with whom he came into contact. During his time as parish priest, Father Lowe oversaw the building of St Francis Xavier School, Presbytery and Church in Corio, as well as St Anthony’s School in Lara.

When the Parish was created, Fr Peter Molenaar MHM (the first of the four Peters to be in the parish) was appointed as assistant priest. Fr Molenaar succeeded Fr Van der Geest (who had been assistant at Norlane) as the Dutch chaplain for western Victoria. Fr Molenaar was a member of the St. Joseph’s Missionary Society, also known as the Mill Hill Missionaries because their motherhouse is situated at St. Joseph’s College, Mill Hill, London, and is Britain’s own missionary Society which was founded by Cardinal Herbert Vaughan in the late 19th Century. Fr Molenaar left the parish in 1984 for the Holland Australia Retirement Foundation in Bacchus Marsh, from where he eventually returned to Holland. He died on 14 January 14 1993.

Fr Peter Priestley was the first curate appointed to the parish in 1984.  He was well known for his love of planes, trains and snakes. During his time in Corio, he was engaged in many Parish Renewal Programs and was the first chaplain to the Antioch Youth Group (the second longest running Antioch group in the Archdiocese). A lasting memorial to him is the tapestry of the resurrection, designed by him and worked by Aly Bartels, that hangs in St Francis Xavier Church. On leaving Corio, Fr Priestley took up his appointment as parish priest at Daylesford. He then spent a number of years as an Air Force chaplain before being appointed parish priest at Surrey Hills, which was later expanded to incorporate the Parish of Wattle Glen.

Fr Peter Murphy came to the parish on 31 January 1987 and was the link between Fr Ron Lowe and Fr Denis Minogue.  Fr Murphy was in the parish for less than three years and returned to the metropolitan area for a short time before volunteering to assist the Columbans in Peru.

Fr Denis Minogue came to Corio from Airport West and was the second parish priest of Corio, commencing his appointment on 30 January 1988. In addition to his duties as parish priest, Fr Minogue was a member of the executive of the VCSA for about ten years. In addition, he was for many years involved with the National Council of Priests in executive roles and was responsible for the preparation and publishing of ‘The Official Directory of the Catholic Church in Australia’. During Fr Minogue’s time as parish priest, the new church in Lara was built.

Fr Peter Wilson followed Fr Murphy and was assistant priest in Corio from 1990 until 1992. He was the last curate in the parish. Fr Wilson was a qualified dentist and would spend most of his ‘days-off’ treating street kids and others in the St. Kilda area.

In the early part 1993, Fr Michael Moody (later parish priest at Melton) ministered in the parish for a number of weeks. Many parishioners remember him for his Harley motor bike and his dog.

When Fr Minogue was granted twelve months leave of absence, Fr Arnold Heredia was appointed to be the ‘Priest in Residence’.  Fr Arnold arrived in the parish on 1 September 2001 and remained until 20 November 2001, when Fr John Healy took up residence as our third parish priest.

A new era began with the appointment of Fr Healy. Not long ordained and a former MSC brother, Fr John came from St Francis Xavier, Frankston and quickly made his mark on the parish. His enthusiasm and drive resulted in a re-kindling of the spirit of the parish reminiscent of the days of Fr Lowe. During Fr Healy’s time as parish priest the St Francis Xavier Church at Corio was consecrated and the Xavier Centre at Corio was built.

With the departure of Fr Healy for Laverton, the parish welcomed Fr Johnny Joseph MST. Fr Johnny is a member of the Missionary Society of St Thomas the Apostle (MST) which was formally inaugurated on 22 February 1968. Today it has a membership of above 300 priests and three large mission regions under her protection.  Fr. Johnny, who has been in Australia only a short time, was a member of the teaching staff at the Society’s seminary in India for many years.

During 1997, the parish was honoured by the presence of a seminarian, Franco Cavarra, a former Opera Musical Director, during his diaconate year. During the World Youth Day celebrations in Sydney, ‘The Stations of the Cross’ was directed by the then Fr Cavarra. He was created a Chaplain of His Holiness for his role as Director of the Stations of the Cross at Sydney’s World Youth Day.