Parish News
The Ballarat Branch of the Catholic Women’s League recently celebrated the jubilee of St Francis of Assisi at the only dedicated church to St Francis in the Ballarat Diocese which is situated in Landsborough, a faith community of the Gariwerd Parish. Located at the foot of the Pyrenees, 30 km’s east of Stawell and 100km’s north of Ballarat, this picturesque town was founded during the gold rush before transitioning to a quiet agriculture hub.
The Rosary was followed by Mass attended by over 60 people and celebrated by Fr James Kerr who is the parish priest at Northeast Mallee Parish based in Swan Hill. We were delighted to have Fr James on board to reflect on his stay at Assisi in Italy earlier this year. He was assisted in Mass by Anthony Krohn, wearing his Knight of Malta robes, who did the readings and lead the congregation as Cantor.
Fr James noted that it is rare to have a Saint’s jubilee celebrated by the entire church, 2026 marking 800 years since St Francis’s death. St Francis is not the only Saint buried at Assisi, Clare of Assisi, a great admirer and collaborator of the Franciscan Saint, and more recently, St Carlo Acutis, an Italian teenager who died at the age of 16 in 2006, recognised as the first Millennial saint, are also buried at Assisi.
Fr James also brought to our attention that it was thanks to St Francis of Assisi that we have nativity scenes and stations of the cross. Francis had received permission from the Pope to stage the scene of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem in a cave with live animals so people could see how simply Jesus was brought into the world, whilst Francis erected stations of the cross along the hazardous journey home from the Holy Wars so that Christians could pray on the long walk home.
After lunch, locals were asked to share stories about their church in Landsborough. One that really stood out was about local sculptor Dorothea Saarghy who died on the Feast of St Francis, the day before our gathering. Dorothea was a renowned sculptor and artist who sculpted the statue of St Francis as well as the nativity set in the Landsborough church.
After a lovely lunch catered for by local parishioners, we returned to the church to pray the Pope’s prayer for peace and prayers of the faithful based on the psalms.
Many thanks to the Landsborough parishioners for hosting the Feast Day in their beautiful church.
Noeline Hogan
