Our Lady of the Nativity Parish, Lawson, has a close-knit faith community who, despite overcoming obstacles themselves, reach out in generosity to others. In doing so, they have shown commitment to each other and to the parish.
The parishioners of Our Lady of the Nativity Parish, Lawson, one of the smallest parishes in the Diocese, see their size as being an advantage. The resulting closeness and the influence of their patron feeds into the community’s friendship, love and generosity.
“Being a small community makes it easier for us to know each other. We may not know each other’s names always, but we recognise the face, and I think that’s conducive to a happy community,” acolyte and reader Terry O’Donnell says.
“We have a tradition where the commentator, who welcomes people to the parish each weekend, says, ‘please turn around and acknowledge people in the church and say ‘hello’, give them a wave’,” he explains. “There’s always a welcoming aspect.”
Parish accountant Kevin Medlin adds, “it’s not an audience or a congregation, it’s a group of friends.”
The result, says parishioner Carol Teodori, is lots of energy. “We’re not a very quiet church,” she says, “we’re vibrant and energetic. I feel more at home here than at any other parish I’ve belonged to.”
Parish secretary Richard Kemmis agrees. “Mass feels like a coming together with friends,” he says. “The welcoming feel of this community gets people to want to come to Church every week. It has a connection with people.”
Parishioner Rosana Taylor was welcomed with open arms when she joined the parish ‘by accident’ 10 years ago. “It’s a friendly, understanding and helpful parish,” she describes. “When I was sick, parishioners would call and visit to find out how I was doing.”
Priests a gift to the parish
The parishioners credit their welcoming nature to their priests with hearts of gold – Fr Paul Slyney and Fr Shinto Francis.
“Fr Paul is a very welcoming, open and fair person and a great listener. He likes to include people and their ideas in what happens in the parish,” Terry says.
RELATED: A cuppa with the priest: Fr Paul Slyney
Fr Shinto describes the two years working in the parish as “amazing” and says Fr Paul considers him a “brother in ministry”.
“His compassionate heart for the community is a great example for me. He is very generous in his encouragement and support,” he says.
Parishioner Kate Powell praised Fr Shinto for his contribution to the parish in such a short period of time. “He makes his sermons relevant to everyday life,” she said. “He puts so much work into his homilies each week.”
Parishioners (back row L-R) Terry O’Donnell, Kevin Medlin and Rita Verhoeven and (front row L-R) Rosana Taylor, Kate Powell, Carol Teodori-Blahut and Richard Kemmis. Not pictured is Maureen Ryan. Image: Diocese of Parramatta
Christmas traditions
As the parish patron, Our Lady of the Nativity’s nurturing, loving and caring nature is embodied in the parish, parishioners say.
In solidarity with Our Lady, each year the parish generously donates Christmas gifts to mothers and children from Catholic Care’s Houses to Homes program. Parishioners take a name tag off an ‘Angel’ tree of a mother or a child and then purchase a relevant gift.
“There aren’t enough people in Houses to Homes to satisfy the number of people who want to donate,” Carol explains, as each year, parishioners quickly take the tags outlining the suggested gifts to buy for the disadvantaged families.
Other Advent and Christmas traditions include parishioners delivering reflections on the week’s readings during Mass in Advent and working with the primary school to celebrate their Children’s Mass in the school grounds.
Determination despite difficulties
Despite the positive and joyful nature of the parish, the parish has had a few setbacks. During the 1980s and 1990s, the parish was without a resident priest, and there were discussions of it being amalgamated with Upper Blue Mountains Parish. More recently, the church and its buildings have been damaged by two fires lit by arsonists.
I ask the parishioners how they remain joyful and hopeful despite all these difficulties.
Rita Verhoeven, a lifelong parishioner and member of the Finance Committee says, “when we lost the priest and they were going to close the parish, the parish took it upon themselves to form committees to keep going, and I think our inclusivity stems from that.”
Sacramental Coordinator Maureen Ryan adds, “there’s a commitment, peace and community here that has been built up over time. We’ll get through this through thick and thin.”
This article was originally published in the 2022 Advent | Summer 2022 edition of the Catholic Outlook Magazine. You can pick up your copy of the magazine in parishes and offices across the Diocese of Parramatta now or you can read the digital version here.
