Thank you and God bless you: The whole St Mary’s congregation at the closing ceremony. Photo: Di Grant
After nearly 132 years at the core of Avenel's Catholic community, St Mary’s Church has closed due to dwindling attendees and soaring maintenance costs.
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The church was deconsecrated by Bishop of Sandhurst Shane Mackinlay at a special Mass on Sunday, April 21.
The Catholic Diocese of Sandhurst looked at its options and showed that keeping it open was impossible.
As with many organisations today, attendance is crucial. It cannot be financially viable if it cannot pay its clergy, insurance or maintenance costs.
The church, which was part of the Nagambie parish, had been a place for Avenel Catholics to gather for Mass on alternate Sundays.
On the Sundays it did not have Mass, the congregation gathered without a priest for a Communion service.
Some parishioners visited the church daily to pray.
Monsignor Frank Marriott was parish priest at Avenel for eight years in the 1980s.
He remembers a time after the Ash Wednesday bushfires in 1983 when Mass had to be celebrated under a huge peppercorn tree because the church was too hot to enter.
That tree is now gone, cut down to get rid of termites.
“The kids were upset as they used to love climbing that tree,” Monsignor Marriott said.
Euroa’s Fr Tony Hill was parish priest at Nagambie for more than 15 years until late 2023. He remembers times when St Mary’s was so full that people had to sit outside.
“Avenel is a place where people looked after each other, so if there was a funeral or a wedding, there would be a large congregation,” he said.
Last look: Closing the door of St Mary’s Avenel after its closing ceremony on April 21 are (from left) parish priest Fr Rene Ramirez, Bishop Shane Mackinlay and crucifer Mason Crosier.
Fr Tony said he did his best to ensure Catholics in Avenel had access to Sunday Mass.
Given that he also celebrated Mass at Nagambie, Violet Town and Longwood, the only way he could fit Mass in at Avenel was to celebrate Mass on Friday nights.
“We’d have a good crowd on Friday night. We’d celebrate Mass, then go to the local pub for a meal,” Fr Tony said.
“When we moved Mass to early on Sunday morning, people didn’t seem so keen.”
Monsignor Marriott and Fr Tony recalled parishioners pitching in to maintain the church.
Parishioners rebuilt the altar, while the floors were restored with donated timber and labour from experienced and qualified parishioners.
“I remember one Christmas, the organ just died in the middle of Mass,” Fr Tony said.
A Melbourne-based businessman who had a holiday house in Avenel happened to be at the Mass.
He generously donated a magnificent $10,000 organ to the church.
One of the parishioners could play it very well. A soprano, she could also sing very well.
“The rest of us were just ‘Catholics’, and we’d try to sing as best we could, but eventually we ended up just listening,” Fr Tony said with a laugh.
The closure of a church in a tight-knit community like Avenel is heartrending, drawing many families to St Mary’s for one last Mass.
Many were upset that their little parish church, after 13 decades, was closing.
It brought back many memories of weddings, funerals, baptisms, confirmations and other celebrations.
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