Our History
Our Parish > Our History
March 2015
At 8.30am on Saturday morning 10th October 1998, Fr Pat Molony and Fr John Fitz-Herbert gathered with seven dedicated parishioners to form the Burleigh Heads Parish Building Committee.
The Initial task set for this committee was to plan a 600 seat church with a carpark for 250 vehicles. This committee met some 15 times until 11th December 1999 when it focused more on design and changed the group’s title to the Burleigh Waters Design Committee which went on to meet a further thirty-five times up until Thursday 9th July 2004, when it disbanded because of no clear understanding when the Bermuda Street subdivision would be sold and thus when funds would become available to realise their plans.
Now through some seventeen years of planning and anticipation, the expectation of a new major church within the Burleigh Parish is on the verge of becoming a reality. Peddle Thorp Architects have been commissioned to design a new major church for the southern end of the Gold Coast at Burleigh Waters.
Master Planning is almost complete on the site of the new church on the Parish property adjacent to the Marymount Primary School, off Sunlight Drive. The planned complex will include a new church, parish offices and a community centre. The positioning of the new complex so close to the Marymount Schools is to offer a greater awareness of the importance of Church in students’ lives and to create a ‘familiarity’ with a church building for the school children.’
The Church Design committee has met with the Architects and Fr Tom Elich, Director of the Archdiocesan Liturgical Commission, to commence the process of planning and detailing the many liturgical and community requirements.
Archbishop Mark Coleridge has shown great interest in this new project for the Parish, the Gold Coast and the Archdiocese. The reality is that whilst planning has begun, design of the complex will take at least six months; Gold Coast City Council approval will then take several months - possibly up to six months.
Tendering and construction could possibly see the community moving into the new complex by Easter 2014 at the earliest. It is anticipated that the new Community Centre will provide ample meeting rooms and social facilities to ensure a vibrant and functional centre for a wide variety of educational, formational and “community creating” activities. New Parish offices will accommodate the many administration and ministry groups.
The new Burleigh Waters Church is expected to be retendered and the selected builder appointed by June this year. The new church tender process was suspended last December to allow the Marymount Schools to plan additional car parking along the road to the ovals (west of the Doyle Centre).
Marymount schools plan to start work on the new car park in July and it is expected that the church construction would also start in July. The new church project budget includes the new church to seat 550 people, parking for over 150 cars, parish offices, a columbarium, a 150 seat community centre above a St Vincent de Paul Distribution Centre.
2016
It is not very often that an Apostolic Nuncio comes to a Parish to lay a foundation stone of a new church. Their role demands many “high level” representations on behalf of the Holy Father, so Parish events don’t normally sit within those happenings! Yet, to fulfil his role effectively, a Nuncio is wise to engage in the life of the local Church as much as possible so that his mission is shared across the length and breadth of Church life.
I am sure that Archbishop Yllana accepted our invitation with the thought that he would experience not just an important occasion for Burleigh Heads Parish, but also a valuable opportunity to gain insights into the life of a very large Parish.
I enjoyed the opportunity of driving him around the Gold Coast on the afternoon before our ceremony. He was quite amazed by the size and beauty of the Coast. I am sure he was equally delighted on Sunday when over 900 people gathered to witness the laying of the foundation stone of Mary, Mother of Mercy Church and pastoral centre.
What a great celebration of faith it was and a day to remember; especially for our Parish as it celebrates 60 years in 2016. Thank you to everyone for helping to make the day such a success as we look to our future. Now we move full speed ahead towards the completion of the church – hopefully in November 2016.
At last we have a photo of the Good Shepherd Window. This exquisite window dating from the mid 1800’s was brought from England and stood in the old Infant Saviour Church for some years. Fortunately Fr Ken was able to trace it to a workshop of a Brisbane Gallery. It is now being restored and mounted in a new light box, and will grace our Mary Mother of Mercy Columbarium Chapel. Some donations towards this purchase and restoration have been received.
Opening and blessed our New Infant Saviour Conference Centre
Fr. Stanley Orji, our Parish Administrator and Conference Spiritual Advisor, officially opened and blessed our New Infant Saviour Conference Centre beside Mary Mother of Mercy Church on the 21st August 2017.
Present were Vincentians, parishioners and representatives of Marymount Primary School and Marymount College.
It was an opportunity to remember all those who had helped to build our new Church and this centre. The dream of many has borne this fruitfulness locally. I am especially referring to our founding fathers, Fr Frank Shine, Fr Martin Doyle, Fr Pat Moloney and now, Bishop Ken Howell.
We have always been greatly blessed and so generously supported by our parishioners and parish councils. We take this opportunity to thank them for providing this space so that we can continue the work inspired by Christ and the founders of the society, St Vincent de Paul, St Louise de Marillac, Blessed Frederick Ozanam and Blessed Rosalie Rendu.
The members of Infant Saviour Conference here at Burleigh Heads wish particularly to thank Jim Littlefield for his assistance and our member, Brian Wilkinson, for managing the setting up.
We thank our parishioners, Bart Fitzgerald for volunteering his time and resources to build our shelves and Terry McManus for painting. Thank you Doug Tronc and Barry and Trish Hambleton for organising the transfer of our food and food parcels here. We thank David Noon from Canon at Ramly Drive for generously donating the setting up and half the cost for the new printer/fax machine and the State Office of St Vincent de Paul for assisting with the remainder of the cost through the Volunteers Grant. Thanks also go to Kris Martin, the Executive Officer of the South Coast Diocese of St Vincent de Paul Society, for arranging our signage and mission statement.
The teachers, students and parents of Marymount Primary School and Marymount College can always be counted upon for supporting our mission and we thank them for their significant fund raising to pay for our setting up costs. It has meant that we did not have to dip into funds raised to assist the poor.
Thank you, Brendon Kelly, for donating the statue of St Vincent de Paul. This and our new crucifix selected by Jim Finnan will continue to inspire and remind us all off the sacredness of our mission.
Amongst our guests we welcomed, Noel Sweeney, President of the St Vincent de Paul South Coast Diocese, Justin Moynihan, President of the Gold Coast Region, Patrick McNally and members of our Catholic Women’s League. On behalf of those who are in need, we thank all who assisted in any way and ask you to keep the Society in your prayers.
From Hans van Mosseveld 2017.
Pelican Window Eucharistic Chapel
Designed and crafted by Christopher John of Red Phoenix Glass, Palmwoods.
An ancient Christian symbol for the sacrifice of Christ is the pelican mother tearing its breast and feeding its young.
In the window the vault of starry skies represents God the Creator from Genesis 1:3-5, and the lower half the light of day in the act of the first separation of the elements. The circle of swirling golden bands symbolizes the energy and force of the Holy Spirit, the movement of prayer and song cycling throughout creation.
Circling with those golden bands is a flock of pelicans. This was inspired by the sight of pelicans high overhead riding the thermals above the Maroochy river. With effortless grace and such serenity, they circled for half an hour without a single wing beat. In this window they have become a metaphor for the heavenly sphere.
Pelicans are also known to land and feed of Burleigh Beach. The strong horizontal division reminds us that we are a people who live by the sea and are ever conscious of the meeting of sky and water at our daily horizon line when we look east – from whence the Lord will come.
The window has been donated in gratitude by the Goldsworthy Family.
Nave Leadlights
Designed and crafted by Julian Podmore of Leadlight Craftsman Newmarket.
Around the nave of the church are fourteen leadlight windows to bring the full spectrum of colour and the interplay of light and colour to the worship space.
The artist has crafted each panel to be part of the movement of colour towards the central window of gold that represents the glory of the resurrection.
Each window if you look carefully contains a cross, which becomes the marking cross for the representations of the Stations of the Cross in the windows below.
Tabernacle
The tabernacle is from WJ Sanders Sydney and is polished brass.
The door motif is a cross and Australian wildflower and leaf design from World Youth Day Sydney 2008.
The plinth which the tabernacle sits on is a thing of beauty – elegant yet modern, and the only element that has a sense of grandeur.
It is placed upon a stand of simple stone and wood that supports and grounds it. It is symbolically located above the parish board room as a reminder of the mission of the parish.
Columbarium
Occupying the space in transition from Church to offices below, the columbarium has a crypt-like feel; a place within the church to house parishioners past, generation to generation.
History should not necessarily be regulated to the landscape, the people upon which the church is founded can reside within its foundations.
The space is designed for quite reflection as well as the celebration of the Mass.
The space is physically and symbolically connected to the worshipping community and church and earth above and the sky of heaven beyond by the glass skylights overhead. The plinth altar was commissioned and installed into the columbarium by Fr Morgan Batt in 2018.
The Pew is from the old Infant Saviour Church. As is the Good Shepherd window beautifully restored and hung in the columbarium – a reference to the beginnings of the parish form Burleigh Heads.
Altar / Ambo / Chair
The sandstone altar is combined with simple Australian spotted gum wood finishes.
The scale of the altar is deliberately small and somewhat non-directional. The celebration is for all gathered around; indeed, there are no pews in front of the altar. Its location is directly below the main structural spine and skylight.
Its form is simple; the timber and simple carpentry speaks of its purpose as a table; the stone grounded upon the earthly floor speaks to us of sacrifice.
Under the altar in a simple niche enclosed above by a stone marked with a cross are the within the relics of St Therese, St Damian of Molokai, and St Peter Chanel.
Again the Ambo is simple stone and wood and placed below the main architectural spine so it is within the assembly but not beyond it.
The chair too is an almost whimsical design and of a scale so it is not throne like but obvious and part of the assembled community looking inward to the altar and ambo.
Baptism Font
Upon entry from the covered gathering space through the soaring glass of the entry, one is greeted by a baptismal font hewn from a single piece of sand stone, placed directly upon the concrete floor and founded upon the earth.
Baptism is the foundation of the church’s; liturgy, the font is circular but its internal basin is an octagonal shape, the sacred geometry of the eight sides symbolises the eighth day of the resurrection.
The location at the entry point of the church is deliberate; so too is the stone which speaks of sand, the beach, and the rock. It is located not behind the pews but beside and in front of the assembly; each baptism is thereby witnessed by the assembly.
The wooden plinth holds a holy water stoop that also acts as a baptismal bowel. The water can now be poured onto the head of the candidate over the large basin area.
The polished brass bowel is part made from the old Infant Saviour tabernacle top and new materials giving us a connection to the past and the future at once.
All stand stone was given and hewn by Chris Stevens and the art work crafted by Gregory Gilmore.
The Crucifix
Suspended above the sanctuary is the Italian made fiberglass corpus figure over which the artist Gregory Gilmore applied patinated and wax bronze finish.
The crown of thorns is fabricated from natural vine and African Thorn Tree thorns.
The cross is constructed from 2 layers of solid Tasmanian oak finished in a water based low VOC 2 pack polyurethane with mirror finished marine grade stainless steel – onto the stainless steel has been sandblasted into opposing sides “they will look upon the one whom they have pierced” Zech 12:10 and “in Christ all will be made alive “ 1Cor 15:22.
The whole of the crucifix assemblage is then hung on piano wire and attached to a concealed electronic remote operated winch. The crucifix can now be lowered for adoration on Good Friday or for Eucharistic adoration as a backdrop to the monstrance on the altar.
It is designed so that the crucifix the people see every day may be the crucifix they liturgically adore each year.
Sanctuary Lamp
Constructed form marine grade laser cut stainless steel and LED lighting with an acrylic diffuser.
The stainless steel is mirror finished on the inner faces and sandblasted on the outer faces. It is also cut into by hundreds of crosses – a link to the training of priests at Banyo Seminary wherein the chapel is a Eucharistic pyx of the dove image also with crosses cut.
The origins of the Parish/Church
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1824 - Penal colony of Moreton Bay established
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1842 - Colony declared open for free settlement
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1843 - Visit of John Bede Polding OSB, Archbishop of Sydney
An aboriginal mission is established.
Architecture
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Patron Saint
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Stained Glass Windows
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Crucifix
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Virtual Tour
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