In the early days of our parish, it became obvious that the original church was far too small to meet the needs of a growing community. As a result, parishioners resolved to build a new church, in which we continue to gather and celebrate the liturgy to this day.
Although the church is now over fifty years old, it has continued to change and evolve to meet our needs as a community and allow us to celebrate the liturgy as best as possible. In the years after the Second Vatican Council, the sanctuary was modified, including the addition of the present, freestanding altar. In the early 1980’s, the present tabernacle, priest’s chair and baptismal font were made for our church. Most significantly, in the Jubilee Year of 2000, we opened our parish centre, providing an excellent facility that is used before, during and after every liturgical celebration.
Our Liturgy Committee has for some years wished to explore the possibility of continuing this great history of active faith and participation by creating a plan for future renovations to the church. This has been discussed with the Pastoral Council and Finance Committee. We believe such a plan would allow us to continue to shape our church to best meet our needs. We also believe it is the best way of responsibly managing any changes and maintenance to the church in the years to come, and preparing for these financially.
The first stage in the process is to engage in a discussion as parishioners as to what the needs, values and vision of our parish are. Only once we share a common understanding of what’s important to us can we design and arrange a church that reflects who we are and what we believe in.
To begin this parish consultation, a survey will be attached to Carmel next weekend. We ask you to complete it and return it to the church the following Sunday. We also invite you to a parish meeting, “Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish: Sharing the Vision” on Tuesday 14 November. At this meeting we will discuss the hopes we have for our parish into the future.
We look forward to everybody making their valuable contribution to this process.
Robert Barden Denis Andrew
Liturgy Coordinator Parish Priest
Liturgy 