In the weeks that follow, the community will gather for a final Mass as the church closes its doors. It is a time of both gratitude and grief, emotions that often sit side by side in our lives. 

For a century, the doors of Our Lady Help of Christians church in Boolaroo have opened to welcome the faithful: To baptise children, witness marriages, commend loved ones to God and to gather a community week after week around the altar of the Lord. Within those walls, generations have learned to pray, to forgive, to hope. 

The church building at Boolaroo carries memory. It has stood quietly through wars, recessions, celebrations and sorrow, becoming part of the story of the people who gathered there. 

Yet while buildings are sacred, they are not the source of what makes us the Church. 

In the Book of Ecclesiastes, we are told that there is “a time for every purpose under heaven.” There is a time to build and sometimes, a time to let go. These moments are never easy. They require trust that the God who has sustained a community for one hundred years does not abandon it now. 

The Church has always understood itself as a pilgrim people. From the earliest Christians who gathered in homes to parish communities formed in new suburbs and towns, it has never been buildings that sustain us, but faith lived and shared in community. 

That is what has endured at Boolaroo for one hundred years. It has been a place where people gathered to pray, built lasting friendships and supported one another in times of need. It has been a place where people have placed love for God and love for neighbour at the centre of their lives. Over time, this shared faith, these shared values, and these shared experiences created a sense of belonging that cannot be measured in bricks and mortar. 

Some have been part of this parish for a lifetime. Others have come for a single, significant moment in their lives. Each contributes to the life of the Church. 

In that sense, the story of Boolaroo is familiar. It reflects the life of many parishes across our Diocese. 

For many of us, there is a church somewhere that holds part of our own story. It may be where we were baptised or married, or where we gathered to farewell someone we loved. It may simply be the place where faith first began to take root. 

While buildings do not last forever and communities change over time, what is formed in those places endures. The faith lived there continues in the lives of the people who carry it. 

That is the part of parish life that truly lasts.