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St Mary MacKillop Church has been operating on High Street for about two-and-a-half years, named after Australia\u2019s first and only saint, who served country people.<\/p>\n
The new church was built on the site of the former St John the Evangelist Church which was demolished after a deliberately lit fire in 2015.<\/p>\n
Parish priest Father Joseph Panackal formally presented the building to the Archbishop.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s rising from the ashes of the tragic loss of our beloved church St John the Evangelist,\u201d Father Panackal said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis miracle new church is a sign of growing life and faith of our community. The beautiful stained-glass windows have a theme; we are on a journey, and our journey is Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are proud to present it to you for the dedication and consecration of the glory of the father\u2019s son, and the spirit, and the patronage of St Mary MacKillop.\u201d<\/p>\n
The key to the church, construction plans, and books were presented to the Archbishop as signs of his leadership, the responsibility in building god\u2019s kingdom, and the growing faith community\u2019s commitment.<\/p>\n
Architect Sandy Law responded to the brief of creating a light, bright, welcoming, quiet, prayerful, spacious and traditional space when designing the $2.25 million church, and sought to make it a functional space for 220 people.<\/p>\n
To cover the cost, the Parish received $600,000 in insurance money, their fundraising covered $450,000, bequests provided $700,000, and the rest has been paid after the sale of land at Winchelsea.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
THE dedication of Bannockburn\u2019s St Mary MacKillop Church took place last Sunday evening. It was the first-ever church dedication to be held within St Joseph\u2019s Catholic Parish of Meredith, with hundreds of community members attending the service which represented a commitment to always use the space to honour God. The liturgy, which included anointing of […]<\/p>\n