St Margaret Mary's Parish Brunswick, Melbourne, Australia, 6 October 2022 -- The weather in Melbourne has started in spring with fresh flowers and warm sunshine, and together with the whole Church, St Margaret Mary’s starts the month of October, in honouring our Mother Mary.
After two years of epidemics with long months of curfew in the state of Victoria, the Shrine of Our Lady has been completed. Today, the whole parish and friends gathered in front of the shrine with Fr Peter Hoang SDB, Vice-Provincial of Australia and Pacific and other priests, religious, parishioners and friends to celebrate the Blessing Ceremony of our Mother's Statue of Louvre and her Shrine.
Looking back over the past 15 years since Father Anthony Nguyen was sent to the parish, a suburban parish of Melbourne city, where there many Italians and Australians were very active, now they are older and young people have moved out the area because the houses are so expensive!
In 2007, Fr Frank Moloney, the Provincial at the time, sent Father Anthony Quang Nguyen there with the request to open a shelter for refugees… to revive the parish!
With the cooperation of two Salesians Sisters, Sr Marguerite and Sr Thuy-Linh, and Bro Dat Phung SDB to organise the Salesian Youth Movement (SYC) we set to work. Sister Marguerite was in charge of the Vietnamese language school…
On Sundays from 1 pm to 3.30 pm, the children come to learn language and then stay for activities like games, learn their catechism and celebrate the Liturgy of Word before they join the whole community for the Holy Eucharist at 5.30 pm...
The shrine of Our Lady has now been built, though due to the pandemic and long curfew in Melbourne, it took two years to complete.
Father Peter Hoang SDB, as the representative of the Provincial, blessed the shrine with Father Anthony Quang Nguyen, the Parish Priest. During the Mass, Father Nguyen shared the difficulties and obstacles to overcome, such as signs that our Mother wanted the shrine to be completed… One night in mid-June 2021, a storm blew two blocks of foam 2.4 meters long and 1 meter wide and 60 cm thick, and lifted them from the side of the church, flew them 20 meters and then landed them right where the statue of Mother stands... When sharing this fact with the parishioners who considered it as our Mother's wish for the shrine to be completed quickly for her… even there were difficulties but Mary helps to overcome them all!
