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St Joseph chuch history
at a glance
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Up until the late
sixties, the Melkite Catholic Congregation in Melbourne was
served by the Maronite Monsignor Paul Al-Khoury, may God
bless his soul, who dedicated himself to the service of all
with due sacrifice and love. By the late sixties, some of
the Melkite Catholic families in Melbourne approached His
Beatitude Patriarch Maximos V Hakim, and expressed to Him
the wish of the Parishioners in Melbourne to have Deacon
Joseph Awaad ordained Priest and be sent to serve the
Melkite Catholic Congregation. His Beatitude accepted the
petition by writing and endorsed it with His Apostolic
Blessing.
At that stage, the visit
of His Eminence Cardinal James Nox, the then Roman Catholic
Archbishop of Melbourne was finalised. He strongly approved
the existence of a Centre and a Church for the Melkite
Catholic Congregation and their friends in Melbourne. He
also generously offered to assist in the preparation for the
welcoming of Father Awaad and secure lodgment and a Church
for him to perform his spiritual duties.
At that time, the Archmandrite Aftimos Haddad travelled down from Sydney and
took charge of the situation. He blessed our work and
introduced us to other Melkite families. He then appointed a
special committee headed by Mr. Ibrahim Baccash, whose first
duty was to prepare for the welcoming of the first Priest
for the Melkite Catholic Congregation in Melbourne. He also
asked Mr. Ibrahim Baccash to preside the first Parish
Council for our Church in Melbourne. Father Awaad was the
founder of the Melkite Catholic Parish in Melbourne, a
Church built upon Christ, the Word and the Truth, and the
faith and affiliation of its children.
In 1971, many of the
Parishioners witnessed the wonderful encounter at Melbourne
Airport and the hearty reception that Father Awaad was
honoured with. Soon after that, Fr Awaad who was in his late
fifties, started his services with all sincerity and
eagerness, and soon enough all who had dealt with him
perceived in him the faithful servant and the humble
educator. He restlessly served for seventeen years, without
concern for any lack of sleep, working seven days a week,
exchanging love with all. The fruit of this hard work was
the purchase of St Joseph Church in Fairfield in 1975, four
years after his arrival in Melbourne. He paid for it in five
years by going tirelessly and without lassitude from door to
door to collect the price of the Church.
When His Beatitude
Maximos V Hakim visited Australia in 1981, he raised him
with merits to the rank of Archmandrite in appreciation of
all the work he’d achieved for the Church and the Parish as
a whole. From 1988 till 1996, Archmandrite Awaad served with
all humility, disinterest and self-denial other Churches in
our Eparchy in Australia, in Sydney and Perth. He then
retired in Cairo (Egypt) where he died in December 18, 2000
at the age of eighty, may God bless his soul.
If we indeed are
forgetful, we will never forget that during his years of
service and even after his departure, St Joseph Church in
Fairfield was and still is the centre of the apostolic work
in Melbourne. Over the years, St Joseph’s has also offered
various services and apostolic works. It helped and
supervised the foundation of churches and missions all over
Australia under the mandate of His Grace George Riashi, the
past Archbishop, and after him, His Grace Issam John Darwish,
current Archbishop of our Eparchy. The missions were in
Perth, Adelaide, Canberra, Hampton Park, Sunshine and
Oaklands.
After Father Awaad,
various reverend Fathers followed in succession in the
service of the Parish, each in turn offering to God the most
precious of his years for the service of the parishioners.
The priests that followed were Fr Henry Dabbous together
with, Fr André Nahhas, Fr Emile Konsol, Fr Antoun Yaacoub,
Fr Waheed Riad, Fr Laurence Cross, Fr Edward Ibrahim, Fr
Nakhleh Al Zakhem, Fr Hassan Al Nassir, Fr Hanna Dagher, Fr
Nimr Abou Shaaya, Fr Francis Al Taweel and lastly Fr Samir
Haddad. It has also had many Deacons, Chanters, dedicated
Readers and Sacristans.
Many thanks to all who
over the years collaborated with the Church, the departed
and the ones still alive, and may God repay them for their
contributions thirty, sixty and one hundredfold, and
subsequently the Kingdom of God.
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