Parish of Saint John Bosco Engadine

Parishioners Sharing

Click the following to jump to the sharings of Ellen Dubber, Alan Court, Desma Jama,

Ellen Dubber:  At 9.30am Engadine: 

St John Bosco Parish has been my parish for most of my life.

Over recent years I have been involved in children’s masses and liturgies, Eucharistic ministry, Spirituality in the Pub, Stewardship and the Parish Pastoral Council. All this has been a great opportunity to give back to the parish and take an adult perspective of a parish that has been part of my life since I was born.

I was born in Engadine to parents who had lived here since their marriage in 1956. Mum and Dad met in the Catholic bushwalking club so it is not surprising that they moved “out to the sticks” and became one of the very early parish members before this church or any of the schools were built.

All but the youngest of my five brothers and sisters were baptised in the chapel at Boys Town. It was a big event when the parish built the church we are in now.

Many of you will have heard the stories and some of you have lived through the period when Boys Town was the hub of the parish. We have recently celebrated several landmark events in relation to Boys Town and the Salesian presence in Engadine. I found great delight in hearing stories told publically during those events that connected with the stories Mum and Dad have told over the years about their lives in these early pioneering days.

When Fr Mick asked me to describe my experience of the growth of this parish over the years the image that came to me was that of a garden. This is no doubt a product of the love of nature I have inherited from my parents. There are other factors too. I have vivid memories of Dad nurturing and cultivating our gardens at home and transforming them from virgin bush land into productive spaces for food and children to grow in. These days the gardens are still beautiful and Dad still loves to work in them but he is different and so are the needs of our family. So the gardens are different.

This sense of awe and nostalgia is what I also feel when I consider the hard work that has gone into building the ”garden” that is our parish. Without the vision and hard work of many parishioners and religious over the years this parish would not be what it is today.  

They are easy words to say when I have lived a comfortable and secure life with all my basic needs met. The risks taking, passion and sense of hope for the future that the early parish grew on are part of our history. We have moved to a different era. Some of those people can enjoy sitting back in the “garden” that is our parish now and should feel proud at their achievements.

This great church was built when I was very young but I remember the excitement of such a beautiful building. Having a church to go to that meets our physical needs is something that we take for granted I guess. One of my earlier memories of this church was the year that my sister made her first communion and this church was flooded. The children processed down all dressed up in their beautiful first communion outfits with their hands reverently joined – and then “walked the plank” across the water to receive Jesus for the first time. Thank goodness we seem to have the plumbing and drainage all sorted now!

This is just one of hundreds of examples of work that has gone on behind the scenes over the years – just to keep things going. Anyone who has owned a house knows how much work goes into “just keeping things running” let alone improving and expanding it.

We all attended Bosco Primary School. My brothers were involved in scouts and my sisters and I in Netball. My brothers moved onto Boys Town for upper primary which took local boys then before they went off to St Pats at Sutherland. My youngest sister didn’t need to go off to MIC at Sutherland for High School like my sister and I because by then the parish had built Bosco High School. The current expansion to Year 11 and 12 and the beautiful facilities at the college now would have been a dream to my sister’s cohort but they thought they were doing pretty well to have a catholic high school in Engadine – and they were. You may have read the excerpts of the old Bosconian as the parish debated and planned and struggled to find a way to make this dream come true for their children.

I was barely old enough to understand the full gravity of such “wild and adventurous” financial dreams but I recall the adults discussing taking on this debt with the intensity that you would take on a big personal financial decision. It was very personal and it was very important because it was their parish that they were building; their children that would benefit. It wasn’t a matter of what “the parish” or the parish priest should do. It was “what should we do”.

Of course it wasn’t until I looked at the world through adult eyes that I could really take this perspective. Coming back to Engadine after getting married and then bringing up children in the parish gave me new eyes. The eyes of someone who wants the best for their children and will do what it takes to provide for them. My husband, while not part of the church has always seen the value and good fortune of us bringing the children up in a Salesian community where children and families are seen as central to the life of the parish.

The garden I needed as a parent was a little different to the garden my parents needed. My Mum was one of many Mums who spent a large part of her time and energy with the nun’s and the school. They helped each other. Not just in the way that school mum’s do now. The sisters were really just that to Mum – sisters - chatting and supporting each other through the small and the big hiccups of life. Running fete’s and stalls and making things by hand that where needed. Dad’s had equally hands on roles.

These things still happened to a certain extent when I became a parent. But a new generation had emerged. I turned up to enrol my eldest daughter for kindergarten and asked Sr Sarah what the system for before and after school care was. When I had attended Bosco Primary many years before, and Sr Sarah was my school principal, this wasn’t a standard question. Well a tiny bit of that pioneering spirit had hung on through the generations and a few of us got together and with the support of the school and the scouts and after much discussion, planning, cake stalls and pure will power, we had a before and after school centre. There is something about investing all that energy that helps you find more energy - To build a storage shed, to ensure you employ good staff, to keep the standards of care high and so on.

Well we struggled on in that era with fete’s and fundraising. In fact the fund raising expanded into Bosco Educational Enterprises which still supports the educational needs of the children beyond what the schools can directly offer. I guess that is a modern day version of the community rallying together to make things happen for their kids.

I have to admit to a sense of relief when the school community decided to institute a fundraising levy and the fete became a thing of the past. That wasn’t because there was no value in the community spirit of donating and making goods and selling raffle tickets and plastering arms and buying plants that I couldn’t keep alive beyond a week. It was because life was different. It was busier with out of home and I guess out of community events. Like work and friends and family and the longer distances to travel to all these things.

We can reminisce and discuss what is better and what is worse – but I am one to conclude that things are just different. Communities and parishes grow and so do we. We replant, re-pot, build new garden beds and chop down trees. It is just the cycle of life. We didn’t need John Paul Village in 1950 and these days we don’t need Fr Mick to ride around to visit us on horseback. And as far as I know Fr Mick hasn’t been giving away his shoes to anyone recently. Ask an older parishioner if you don’t know about Fr Dunlea and shoes.

But we do have a lively and long standing St Vincent de Paul Society to provide the basics of life for those who need it. My Dad has been an active member of St Vincent de Paul for most of his life in the parish. At home we used to put little slips of paper in plastic collection bags and deliver them all over Engadine and then go back a week or two later to collect people’s offerings of clothes.  St Vincent de Paul still does valuable work but it looks and sounds different now. That’s Ok.

While this church building that we were married in and my children were baptised in is precious to me, what is ultimately most precious to me now are the people I have met and the faith that has grown in me. But this doesn’t happen without buildings to meet in and schools to educate us. I am very excited to be part of the garden that is St John Bosco Parish. I know it is not unusual to hear some of us tell our story of living in this garden as children and now as adults but the story and the garden is special because of all who are part of it. Those gone and those who are new to it, and those who are yet to arrive. I hope we can continue to nurture this garden and allow it to grow into what we need it to be.

I would like to end with a quote that I first saw at Douglas Park retreat house that resonates with me in lots of ways.

'The kiss of the sun for pardon,

The song of the bird for mirth,

One is nearer God’s heart in a garden,

Than anywhere else on earth'

 I feel very near to God’s heart in the parish of St John Bosco Engadine.    Return to top

Alan Court -7.30am Heathcote

Thank you Father.

Good morning everyone. (as Father said), I  have been asked to say a few words about the Parish of which this Church is part; the Parish of St John Bosco which embraces Engadine, Heathcote, Waterfall, Woronora Heights and Yarrawarrah; and everything in between.

And I want to do that in the context of the current Lenten theme of “service” because I believe there is so much about the Parish that epitomizes “service” in all its forms.

Firstly, however, for the benefit of those who do not know us, I want to make the point that I  am not speaking as a “Johnny come lately” because – although Christine and are new residents of John Paul Village – we have lived in Engadine and have been members of the Parish since September 1961; and we have given it service and received service from it for all of that time. 

Of course, when we came to the Parish it was vastly different from what it is today. It covered the same areas – or most of them as neither WoronoraHeights nor Yarrawarrah existed in those days – and it also had many fewer parishioners.

Those were the days when Fr Ciantar was the Parish Priest and he was our very first contact with the Salesians of Don Bosco, having had custody of the Parish since early 1952 when, following a request by Cardinal Gilroy, he was sent to Engadine to be the Parish Priest and the Rector of Boys’ Town, in succession to Boys’ Town’s founder, Fr Tom Dunlea and the De La Salle brothers who had helped Fr Tom for the previous ten years from 1942.

In those days, there was no Shrine of St John Bosco at Engadine so Mass was said in the Boys’ Town Chapel and the original “Our Lady Help of Christians” Church that had been built on this site (with volunteer labour) in 1958. And for many years Mass was also said once a month in a cottage at Waterfall and, later, in a hall that formed part of the Bushfire Station there.

Through their service in saying Mass for the Parish community in the Boys’ Town Chapel, Christine and I also came in contact with many other Salesian Priests (including Fr Ted Cooper, to name just one) and all of them had a charism about them that we soon began to recognize as a hallmark of all Salesians, be they Priests, Brothers or Sisters. As Bishop David Cremin said in his foreword to Michael Kenny’s wonderful Parish History (and I quote) “I have always been impressed with the great spirit of community that pervades the parish and schools. I have said so in public on many occasions. Your parish is so blessed with the great heart of love handed on to you by your great founder St John Bosco to be evident everywhere. Having priests, sisters and brothers of the Salesian order working in harmony and passing on the charism of Bosco to teachers, parishioners and all members of the Bosco extended family – this is a unique blessing that other parishes would only dream about” (end of quote).

I could go on a lot longer with a history of the Parish but I fear I could not do it justice so I  shall, instead, commend to you the book from which the above quote was taken – the book produced by Michael Kenny and called “Bosco Engadine”.

It is available through the Parish Office for a modest cost and you have only to leaf through it to see what an extraordinary Parish we belong to.

However, you will also get a similar insight into the Parish if you look at a recent issue of the Bosconian.  Firstly, how many parishes have such a bulletin and, secondly, how many parishes have anything like the 61 groups that are listed in the centre pages of the latest bulletin? 

It truly is an exceptional variety of groups ranging, as it does, from Acolytes to Youth Matters and just about everything else you can think of in between. All of them – or, at least, the vast majority being groups that offer service to our entire Parish community while also being groups that afford those who can, the opportunity to be of service to their fellow parishioners.  

Over the years our family and our extended family have received and/or given service from or to many of these groups.

For example, five of our six children experienced great spiritual growth through Antioch (through which we also gained two daughters in law) and Christine and  I  benefitted greatly from Marriage Encounter. Also, we used the school canteens (which Christine helped to staff) and we have been part of the Direct Giving Program. Also, I  have been on the Parish Council (in Fr Ciantar’s time) as well as the P & F, the Finance Committee and for 15 years the original John Paul Village Board; and for all but three of the past 40+ years (while we were in Singapore) Christine has been one of the Shrine’s cleaning ladies (the so-called “Friday Ladies”) and she has also  done the floral decorations for weddings and special events in the Shrine where three of our children have been married. And all our children and many of our grandchildren have participated in sporting teams fielded by the Bosco Sports Club.

In fact all six of children and five of our grand children have attended St John Bosco Primary School; and we have seen it grow to a four stream school that was at one time said to be the largest catholic primary school in the southern hemisphere. Four of our children and several of our grandchildren have also attended BoscoCollege and those schools have given us great service by educating all of those children academically, emotionally and spiritually.

And over the years, three of Christine’s aunts have been residents of JohnPaulVillage (as are we today); with one of them progressing through all stages of care.   

In fact, we have a Parish that literally services its parishioners from the cradle to the grave, physically, emotionally and spiritually.   

On the temporal side, I ask you: how many parishes have a four stream primary school and a fully fledged high school (that last year had the best HSC results of any CatholicSchool in the Archdiocese)?   

How many parishes have anything remotely like JohnPaulVillage or the Men’s Shed? Indeed, what other parishes have anything like the infrastructure that is represented by the Shrine, the Presbytery, the Convent, the Primary School, Bosco College, Youth Matters, this Church and, of course, John Paul Village. Dare I say, none!  

Mind you none of this just happened. We have been blessed to have the Salesians in our midst and, in particular, Fr Ciantar (who built the Shrine and acquired the land on which JohnPaulVillage is built) and Fr John Briffa in whose time as Parish Priest – 26+ years – most, if not all, of the other infrastructure came into being. And I  also pay tribute to the other Salesian Parish Priests – Fr Baiguini, Fr  Rankin and Fr Court – who in their own times and ways have continued to ensure the growth of the seeds planted by Fr Ciantar and Fr Briffa.   

But now, a sobering note. Every one of these wonderful Priests has been supported by wonderful people from the Parish; many of them through the great service that they have given to the different groups. 

However, much of the support has been to a very large extent given anonymously; and that has been by way of pledged donations to the Parish’s Direct Giving Program, about which more will be said next week in an effort to expand on its present scope.  

Suffice for the moment, that my words today are intended to help us all reflect on what we have in the Parish today and on the fact that the Parish’s infrastructure has been financed by Direct Giving.  

Thank you.  (return to top)

Desma Jama -11.00am Heathcote

I have been asked to share with you a little bit about my involvement in the Parish of St. John Bosco.

 This commenced in 1982 when my eldest child was enrolled as a pupil at St. John Bosco Primary, Although we are geographically outside the Parish, (father Briffa jokingly calls me an outsider or a ring in) I chose the school for my children on the strength of and the vibes I received from the enrolment interviews I attended at both schools.  Sr. Therese Anne was the Principal here at the time and one characteristic that embedded my mind was “Family”.  That was a word that she mentioned often.

The three children received their education at Bosco Primary and Bosco College, with the eldest two continuing on to do their HSC at De La Salle at Cronulla, and the third remaining at Bosco College as by then it continued on to Year 12.  One thing I was told by some of the women working at Cronulla was that the Bosco students were the most well adjusted students there, and I think that says a lot about the Salesian way of teaching.

These years were what some might call the “busy” part of my life, and school and it’s extra-carricular activities consumed most my day, so it wasn’t until about 1994 that my life’s path took another turn.  It was at a home Mass at my place, and among the sixty people in attendance was Brother James Hamilton.  He said to me (as he said to a lot of people) “you should be a Co-operator”, to which I replied “what is a Co-operator?” He invited me to come and see him to discuss this, but I felt at the time that I couldn’t possible fit anything else in. Ever so gently, he kept asking and inviting me to their monthly meetings and this went on for about six years.

During this time I found myself commencing as a volunteer at Father Riley”s Youth Off the Streets.  Also, I was asked if I would consider becoming  what is known as an Extroardinary Minister of the Eucharist. This request involved some reflection time before I consented.  This ministry was outside my comfort zone, but I consented and along with ministering at Mass on weekends I ministered to the sick and elderly and this ministry, I can tell you is extremely beautiful.  It is amazing to see God’s work at hand. These people minister to us as much as we minister to them. In 2001 I was asked to co-ordinate the Eucharistic Ministry to the Sick and Elderly and I did this until last year and that, I can tell you was also very rewarding. 

One day, after coming across one of Father Riley’s books of St. John Bosco, and being mesmerised by it, I decided to go to one of those meetings that Brother James had been inviting me to, and at the completion of that meeting, knew exactly where God was calling me to be, and had gently been calling me to be for some time.  The things that I had become involved in during the previous years, were what Co-operators do. I owed it to God and to my family, to say yes to this.

So after joining the third order, I found myself becoming more and more involved in parish life.  In 2003 I was asked if I could help out by answering the phone in the office at the Presbytery one day a week, and this led to an increase in office duties for me.  As I left the workforce when I became a mother, there was not much chance of me returning after so long, but being in the Presbytery office and being given the chance to reacquaint myself with life and work in an office has helped to give me a renewed sense of self worth and achievement – a different sense of self worth from being a fulltime mum and homemaker.  Being a mother is the most important, for as Fr. Riley says “the most important thing you will ever do is raise a child”.  But It can also be the most intense, and we all need a healthy balance, and I have to thank and be most grateful to the Salesians for giving me that balance in so many ways. This parish is, indeed, like family, as Sr. Therese Anne said, and I am grateful for the support, encouragement and opportunities I have received here.

My children tell me that when I die they are going to inscribe my tombstone with what they think is one of my most voiced expression and that is “with privilege, comes responsibility” .  I say to them that the privilege of belonging to “family” goes hand in hand with the responsibility of input to ensure a healthy, happy and thriving environment.   But I do honestly feel that with the privilege of being part of the Salesian family and part of this parish, my responsibility is to give input to help to keep it thriving.  I believe this parish is a very special parish, and we are blessed to have so many priests and religious when other parishes are finding it necessary to combine to survive. We are also blessed to have the Salesians who help us by their example of living out the charism of St. John Bosco, and as our Provincial,  Fr. Francis Moloney said at the opening of the new hub at John. Paul Village, we are the only Salesian parish where the Salesian charism is present from infanthood to the elderly, within an area that can be reached by walking distance – from the before and after school care, right through to the nursing home at JPV. That is a wonderful achievement; that has been reached by hard work, commitment and dedication, and deserves for all of us do what we can to help and support them in their work and in the parish.

Thank you for your time

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