Parish
Parish: St Francis Xavier’s, Moree.
Staff:
Father Paul McCabe
Father Anthony Koppmann
Parish Centre & Presbytery:
39 Boston St, (PO Box 270), Moree, NSW, 2400.
Tel 02 67522886; Fax 02 67524565; sfxmoree@bigpond.net.au
Mass times:
St Francis Xavier (Sat 6pm; Sun 7.30am & 9.30am)
(For further details, contact Parish Centre)
Churches:
Moree: St Francis Xavier’s (cnr Boston & Gwydir Sts)
South Moree: St Pius X Mission Chapel (Anne St - Mehi Cresc.)
Pallamallawa: St Peter Julian Eymard
North Star: Our Lady of the Rosary
Mass Centres: Mallawa, Bullarah
The Parish of Mungindi is administered from Moree.
The Sisters of St Joseph maintain pastoral care of the parish.
Churches: St Joseph’s Mungindi, St Patrick’s Boomi, Our Lady Help of Christians Garah.
Contact: Sisters of St Joseph, 76 Bucknell St, (PO Box 9), Mungindi, NSW, 2406.
Tel/Fax: 02 6753 2320; jmbaker2@bigpond.com
Parish Priests of Moree:
1890 Fr Robert Dunham (first resident priest)
1892 Fr McGuinness (first parish priest)
1900 Fr John O’Connor
1904 Fr John Robinson
1906 Fr Francis Lloyd
1926 Fr John J English (Dean)
1935 Fr Stephen O’Brien
1944 Fr Lynam J O’Reilly (later Monsignor)
1967 Monsignor Edward Rohan
1971 Monsignor Francis P Ryan
1993 Fr Bernard Flood
1996 Monsignor Gerard Hanna (Appointed Bishop of Wagga Wagga, 2002)
2002 Fr Paul McCabe
Religious Communities in Moree:
1899-2003 Sisters of Mercy
1987-1994 Christian Brothers
1965-2005 Daughters of Charity
1998- Missionary Sisters of Service
Brief history of the parish of Moree:
Fr Tim McCarthy, based in Armidale, was the first priest to visit the Moree district in 1859. The first resident priest in Inverell, Fr McLaughlin, served the people along the Gwydir River in the late 1860s. Early records show that during the 1870s, Fr Davis from Inverell travelled extensively throughout the district, administering the Sacraments and caring for the people. Priests visited the area from Inverell until the establishment of the parish of Narrabri in 1880.
The first Catholic building in Moree was the small timber church built in 1884 in Warialda Street on land donated by Joseph Jurd. It was named St Henry's by Fr Doyle, who at that time was caring for the Catholics in the Moree area from his parish of Narrabri. The Church was blessed and opened in 1884 by the second Bishop of Armidale, Dr Torreggiani. The first resident priest was Fr Robert Dunham (1890-91) who lived in rented accommodation, as did his successor, Fr McGuinness, the first officially appointed parish priest of the parish of Moree. St Francis Xavier’s presbytery was built by Fr John O’Connor next to the church in Gwydir St, West Moree, in 1904. The next parish priest, Fr Robinson, built a school hall, dedicated to St John, next to the presbytery. This hall was later destroyed by fire. The old presbytery was taken over for school purposes, and a new presbytery built at 33 Gwydir St. The ‘old’ presbytery which had become part of the school was destroyed by fire in 1972.
St Henry’s remained in use as a church until after January, 1930, when a new brick church close to it on the corner of Warialda and Alice Streets was blessed and opened by Bishop John Coleman of Armidale. The former church was then used by St Xavier’s school. Very Rev John English, who was Parish Priest at the time, named the new brick church: Sts John and Henry.
Although the Church was specially designed to cope with the black soil, with reinforced beam and girder foundation, over the next fifty years serious faults developed, particularly in the arch before the altar, resulting in expensive repairs in the mid 1980s. Because of these structural faults, the church of Sts John & Henry was eventually closed, sold in 1998, and demolished in 2002.
Although the first Catholic church had been built in East Moree, West Moree had been developing as the main township from the time when James and Mary Brand opened the first store in Frome Street in 1852.
The Sisters of Mercy arrived in Moree in 1899 from Gunnedah. They lived in a small weatherboard house in Warialda St, East Moree, one room serving as the school-room. Before the year was out, the sisters moved across the river to the corner of Balo & Iris Sts, West Moree, where they began St Philomena’s high school in the long room on the southern side of the building. Meanwhile, work began on a new St Xavier’s primary school next to the church in Warialda St, East Moree. By 1902, the sisters had acquired a large amount of land bordered by Boston and Gwydir Sts. Here they built a convent and conducted St Philomena’s Primary & Secondary school, with boarding facilities for girls. By 1929, St Xavier’s Primary numbered 150 children, and St Philomena’s Primary & Secondary 207.
The corner section of the land was purchased from the Sisters for the building of Moree's second church, the Parish Church of St Francis Xavier. Begun in 1912, it was blessed and opened on 15th June, 1913, by Bishop O'Connor of Armidale. The Parish Priest at the time was Fr Lloyd. A souvenir booklet produced for the occasion records that "St Francis Church, Moree, as it stands, is incomplete, being without the tower and spire, which will be built, it is hoped, in the near future." (Perhaps the intervention of World War I thwarted these plans).
To mark the important event, the Municipal Councillors decided to accord the Bishop a civic reception, thereby honouring the Catholic citizens and manifesting a commendable spirit of broad-mindedness and generosity.
In 1958 the Church still lacked the tower and spire. It was decided that the building should undergo substantial alterations - in particular, raising the floor above flood level, changing the windows, and converting the old sacristy to a Nuns' Chapel with a new sacristy being sited on the other side of the Sanctuary. On either side of the entrance were placed a Crying Room and a Robing Room for the Priests. When these alterations were complete, the Church was solemnly blessed and dedicated on 15th March, 1959, by Bishop E J Doody. Monsignor L J O'Reilly was the Parish Priest.
In 1954, Bishop Doody appointed Fr Richard Shanahan assistant priest in Moree, and asked him to set up a Mission to the Aboriginal people. With strong support from Moree people, he organised the building of a chapel dedicated to St Pius X on land at the end of Anne St near Mehi Crescent, the Aboriginal residential area called “Bottom Camp”. Fr Shanahan celebrated Mass there each Sunday and visited the Wiradjurai school in Mehi Crescent regularly. Fire destroyed the original buildings and Fr Shanahan lived in a garage, and celebrated Mass there too until the new buildings were erected. When Fr Shanahan was appointed to Walgett, he was succeeded by Fr Bernard Melville who remembers, among others, the altar boy, Lyall Munro, who later became a significant leader in the Aboriginal community.
In 1962, John and Nelda Curran of Moree persuaded the parish priest to ask Bishop Doody to invite the Daughters of Charity to set up a pre-school Kindergarten and Health Clinic at St Pius X Mission. A community was established in 1965 to run the pre-school and clinic. The sisters also conducted sewing classes and a Teenage Club, and took the children for religious instruction. Local physicians, Dr John Campion and Dr John Egan, offered honorary service, and were later joined by Drs Gall and Hunter, extending the work to Toomelah near Boggabilla. Mr Eric John Craigie began to work for St Pius X in the 1970s, and was largely responsible for obtaining the support of local, state and federal governments in the form of grants etc.
In the 1980s, the Daughters of Charity instituted a long-term plan to hand over management of St Pius X to the aboriginal people: St Pius X Corporation would run the pre-school and clinic, and St Pius X Chapel committee would be responsible for liturgies and pastoral care. In 1987, the sisters moved from St Pius X to 23 Dover St from where they have continued to support the work of St Pius X. In 2004, it was decided that, because of aging and dwindling numbers, the Daughters of Charity would finally withdraw from Moree by June 2005, although Sr Fely would continue her work among the Filippino community. St Pius X Chapel committee will continue the work of pastoral care of the aboriginal community when the Daughters have gone.
In 1989, when Monsignor Francis Ryan was parish priest, the parish purchased the brick convent at 39 Boston St, (built in 1959), from the Sisters of Mercy who had moved into smaller units on the cnr of McKenzie & David Sts. The former convent was refurbished and became known as the Parish Centre, the priests’ residence being upstairs and parish facilities downstairs. The former presbytery at 33 Gwydir St was removed, and the land developed into an infants’ playground. When the Sisters of Mercy finally left Moree in 2003, the parish purchased the units in which they had been living. These are currently used as accommodation for teachers at St Philomena’s School.
In 1998, the Missionary Sisters of Service appointed Sr Bernadette Madden, a trained and experienced teacher, to work in Moree at the “Time Out Centre”, an Education Department funded programme for young people under 15 years of age who have been excluded from regular classroom education. Sr Bernadette soon became involved in the Aboriginal Tutoring programme, and now works full-time with the Department of Community Services (DOCS) as a child protection caseworker. She has taken a special interest in the work of St Pius X, and has also conducted the Parish Sacramental Preparation programme for State School children for several years.
The 1958 decision to rebuild St Francis Xavier’s church on the old foundations has resulted in serious structural and other problems requiring expensive, on-going maintenance because of the notoriously unstable black soil in this area. Because of these difficulties, the parish council and finance committee have discussed the possibility of building a new church, perhaps within the next 10 to 15 years. The future needs of St Philomena’s school may involve a dual development of church and multi-function centre. However, with a steadily declining and aging congregation, and uncertainty about what might be the most suitable design for a church today, such a decision will be taken neither lightly nor quickly.
(Notes made by Fr Paul McCabe, 1st July 2004)