Parish anecdotes
From shed relic to sacred service
There was so much stuff in the presbytery shed back in the day, that we had to wade our way through to get to anything. During the 2014 search for Christmas decorations, this very sad looking votive candle stand came into view. When found, it was old and run...
Major surgery that didn’t work
One of the more vexatious memories of our parish occurred in 2017 when some hooligans tried to break into the church. When unsuccessful, they decided to wage war on our statue of St Joseph that occupied a place of honour in the front garden. It was the following...
The photocopier
Pat and Frank Brophy, lifelong parishioners of St Paul’s, contributed in many ways to our parish, and one of them was editing and printing the parish weekly newsletter. In part 1 of the parish history book A People Gather it is written about them: “The other area of...
His faithful companion
Monsignor O'Loughlin had a faithful four-legged companion, Nero, who was a familiar sight around the parish. The two would often wander up to the parish school, and one student recalled being impressed that the priest always carried a bag to collect the “doggie poo” —...