On Saturday 9 November, Eaglehawk parishioners, past and present, gathered to celebrate the 160th anniversary of St Augustine’s Church in Myers Flat. After a Liturgy in the church, the congregation gathered for the blessing of a refurbished grotto and shrine to Our Lady, followed by afternoon tea.
There was a playful and festive air of excitement alluding to past celebrations at St Augustine’s church grounds “under century-old gums” in “picturesque bushland”*.
Bernadette, a Dempsey family member with intergenerational connections to St Augustine’s, had returned to Myers Flat with her husband Keith especially for the occasion. They were married at St Augustine’s in 1974 and appreciated that not much had changed. They were pleased the church remained in a beautiful bush setting, although Bernadette did wonder what had happened to a family of owls which had watched over the place.
Bernadette’s cousin, Sharon (also a Dempsey) pointed to a newspaper article from 1891, recounting the time their great-grandmothers, the children of local miners, were presented with academic awards by Bishop Reville. She remembered their Uncle, Darcy Dempsey, the last bell-ringer who had rung the Church bells after Mass for fifty years, “When his funeral came, nobody could bear to ring the bells,” she said.
Another cousin, Margaret Tobias and her husband Stan, who was a tenor at Sacred Heart Cathedral for over thirty years, enjoyed catching up with family and friends. The stories shared over afternoon tea under majestic gum trees, brought the Readings and sermon of the day’s Liturgy to life:
Speaking at the Liturgy, Bishop Shane Mackinlay elaborated on the Second Reading – Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, reminding the congregation that the gathering of people makes the Church, while a church building is a place to be Church.
"Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?"
Corinthians 3:16
“Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians makes it very clear, that the Church which he had in mind, the Church which makes any building matter, is the Church of God’s people who are drawn together in that place, who pray together in that place and then go forth from it to proclaim the Gospel.”
“We go to a whole lot of effort to build churches like this and care for them, and use them because of the people of God who are God’s Church, who need a place to gather, a place to pray, and a place to worship; a place to do what Jesus says to Peter, to be the foundation, the rock that builds up God’s kingdom in our world. We come with this tradition, continuing to nurture and care for and build up the Church.”
After the Liturgy, the congregation processed outside for the Blessing of the recently refurbished grotto and Shrine of Our Lady, which had been well-prayed to by the Poor Clare Sisters at the now-dissolved Monastery of the Holy Ghost.
Bishop Shane said in its new home, the shrine would be a source of hope and inspiration for the people of St Augustine’s and that it was appropriate that it be blessed on the 160th anniversary of St Augustine’s and during the 150th anniversary year of the Diocese of Sandhurst, as Our Lady of Good Counsel is the patron saint of the Diocese.
Bishop Shane referred to the significance of Our Lady in our faith life. “We understand that Mary, in her relation to the Church, is the first disciple. The first amongst us to open herself to God’s Word, not only in her heart but in her own body, carrying Jesus as his mother, and bringing him into our world.”
He referred to the Second Vatican Council’s decision, sixty years ago,” to step away from a proposal to create a separate document about Mary, Our Lady and, instead, include her in the final and fulfilling chapter in the Constitution of the Church.”
Amongst those enjoying afternoon tea in the beautiful grounds of St Augustine’s, near the image of Our Lady, were quite a few “Marys” who were simply going about their business of being Church.
