Catholic Parish of Pambula

About

The first ministers of religion were searching out and ministering to their flocks at the very start of settlement. Throughout the 1840's these 'Apostles on horseback' forged tracks throughout the rugged Australian bush to bring instruction and sacraments to the pioneers. The Catholic priests were generally young, newly ordained Irishmen, who proved excellent horsemen and bushmen. Their congregations were normally poor, Irish Catholics, who were encouraged by Governor Burke to emigrate and settle the new land. There were no villages or towns between Yass and Melbourne, but Fathers Brennan and Fitzpatrick were given a district centred at Yass - Goulburn and encompassed by the Great Divide to the sea as far as Bass Strait. In 1841 young Father Michael McGrath visited Twofold Bay to administer sacraments. By 1843 a new Queanbeyan Mission was formed with Father Michael Kavanagh, the first resident priest of the Monaro district, including the coast. He rode 4 000 miles each year for 10 years to tend his flock of souls. In 1844 he baptised Patrick Whelan at Kiah, Twofold Bay. He visited Pambula in 1849 as part of his parish. By 1850 Father Henry Garnett from Broulee (Moruya) had a parish that extended down to the Victorian border. He built Pambula's first Catholic church of slab construction, near the Pambula bridge. Unfortunately huge floods of the early 1850's destroyed the church, along with other buildings like the Governor Fitzroy hotel and school. St Vincent de Paul Merimbula Conference Christmas Appeal 2019 Christmas giving trees now in the Merimbula and Pambula churches. You are invited to take a tag and provide an age appropriate gift to be returned by 30thNov/1st Dec weekend. Every year our parishioners have been incredibly generous to those less fortunate in our community to experience the spe-cial joy of Christmas. ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you do for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you do it for me’. ( Matthew 25:40) Thankyou