It was a packed church on Sunday for the Feast of St Maroun – one of the biggest days of the year for Maronite Catholics. Source: The Catholic Leader.
Maronite Bishop Antoine-Charbel Tarabay, Brisbane Archbishop Shane Mackinlay and St Maroun parish priest Fr Fadi Salame concelebrated the Mass.
“The day was amazing. It was special for me and for everyone because we’ve been dreaming about that,” Fr Salame said.
The feast day Mass marked the first step towards a new church building and hall.
The Maronite community had been waiting 40 years for such a place of worship. Many parishioners were thrilled to see an excavator at the scene because it emphasised that construction was underway.
By September, the existing building is expected to be demolished to make way for a new one, large enough to accommodate 55 cars in the basement car park. There will also be a school that teaches Arabic and Aramaic languages and catechism.
Bishop Tarabay said the new church project was needed to respond to the growing number of Maronites in Queensland, numbering more than 4000.
“We are not simply undertaking a project, we are building a spiritual home for future generations who will gather here to worship, to marry, to baptise their children, to farewell their beloved … and to be strengthened in faith,” Bishop Tarabay said.
Archbishop Mackinlay said during his time in Brisbane, he has come to appreciate the richness of the community – the many cultures that come together.
“One of the greatest riches of the Catholic Church is the different rites that make up our Catholic Church, and the possibility for those to be celebrated in their integrity but as part of the broader unity that we share,” he said.
FULLS TORY
Brisbane Maronites break ground for new church building on Feast of St Maroun (By Kymberlee Gomes, The Catholic Leader)
