Holy Family Church
Albany WA

We are the Holy Family Catholic Parish Community in Albany, Western Australia, within the Great Southern Region under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the Catholic Diocese of Bunbury, under the supervision of the Oblates of St Joseph.

Our parish jurisdiction starts from the boundary of Mount Barker, Denmark up to Jerramungup. Aside from the two churches, St Joseph's and Holy Family Church, that we have within the City of Albany, we also look after three Mass Stations where we celebrate Mass on a monthly basis. These are Gnowangerup, Ongerup and Bremer Bay.

Parish Vision

“The Holy Family Parish Catholic Community Albany comes together in the eyes of God to build a church with a steadfast faith, gained through the celebration of the Eucharist, living the Gospel message through love, service and proclamation."

Parish Mission

"The Holy Family Parish Catholic Community Albany is a diverse group of people who join together to share in the Eucharist, learning from the Word, worshipping together and witnessing through our lives to serve those around us and in the outlying communities."

 

http://www.albanycatholicparish.org.au/holy-family-albany/  

 

Everything boils down when Bishop Gerard Holohan, Bishop of Bunbury asked Cardinal Rosales, former Archbishop of Manila, for a help on where he could get missionary priests who will be willing to help him pastorally in his diocese, as they have not enough priests for the whole region. The good Cardinal gave a high recommendation to the Congregation of the Oblates of St. Joseph, and immediately informed the Provincial Superior, who was then Fr. Noel Magtaas, OSJ, about the request. Fr. Magtaas responded to the request with his first correspondence with the bishop of Bunbury in the last period of 2007.

In 2008, to confirm the request, Fr. Ronulfo Alkonga, OSJ, newly appointed Provincial Superior, Fr. Michelle Piscopo, OSJ, Superior General, and Fr. Concord Bagaoisan, OSJ, who has been chosen as the first Oblate missionary to set foot in Australia, went to visit Bishop Holohan to his diocese in Bunbury, and had an ocular visit of the parish where Fr. Con will be staying. The Oblates superiors have accepted the request to put up Oblate community in Western Australia, and it has been agreed upon that the OSJ Australia Mission will be under the pastoral care of the St. Joseph – Philippine Province.

In 2009, Fr. Concord, OSJ officially arrived in Australia to start his missionary journey in the parish of the Holy Family Church, Albany, Western Australia, which was previously under the care of the Congregation of the Holy Spirit. In view of the spirit of community life, Fr. Domingo Manalo, OSJ arrived in 2010 and Fr. Jorge De Chavez, OSJ followed in 2012.

The Holy Family Parish in Albany, Western Australia is located 410kms away from Perth. The Parish has two churches within the town, namely: St. Joseph’s Church and Holy Family Church; and two mission stations, namely: Holy Cross Church in Bremer Bay, Western Australia, which is about 187kms away from Albany; and Mary Help of Christian Church in Ongerup, Western Australia, which is about 165kms away from Albany. The apostolate is more of pastoral than sacramental. That’s why; the best way to practice it is to do house visits and personally meet the people.

In particular, Fr. Jorge, as the parish priest, is in-charge of the affairs of the parish. He is also the chaplain of the Albany Regional Prison. Currently, he was appointed as one of the members in the Council of Priests. On the other hand, Fr. Dom is in-charge of the prayer groups and acolytes of the parish. And since Albany is a retirement place, he is so keen and diligent in visiting the sick at the hospital and parishioners who are homebound and at the nursing homes. Furthermore, Fr. Christian is in-charge of the parish youth ministry, altar servers and St. Joseph Marello Children’s Choir of the parish. At the same time, he is the school chaplain of St. Joseph’s College, and has been appointed by Bishop as the chaplain of the Diocesan Youth Ministry.

From: http://osjphil.org/parish-21.html