Annual Salvatorian Appeal Weekend_18th and 19th September_All Masses
Annual Salvatorian Appeal Weekend
It is a tradition that all parishes where Salvatorian Fathers work, once a year financially support the vocations in the seminaries in Poland and Australia.
On this occasion we welcome FR GEORGE KOLODZIEJ SDS, Superior of the Salvatorians in Australia who will be our guest speaker at all Masses.
A special collection will be taken during Mass. Special envelopes will be provided on all pews.
On behalf of all Salvatorian Fathers and Seminarians we thank you for your generosity.
May God bless you abundantly.
SDS History Australia
The history of the Salvatorians in Australia began in 1961. A few years earlier the Archbishop of Perth, Redmond Prendiville, sent a letter of invitation to the head of our Society in Rome, Fr Bonaventura Schweizer. Replying to the invitation Fr Schweizer sent the first Savatorian, Fr Paul Keyte to Australia in 1961. Fr Paul was asked to take pastoral care of the new parish of Bellevue. The beginnings were difficult. The parish community life centered around the local catholic school, as there was no church, and no parish house or office facilities. In the following years a few more Salvatorians from the British Province joined Fr Paul.
In 1966 the new St Anthony’s Church, together with the accommodation for priests and the parish centre were opened in Bellevue. The parish of St Anthony was the only Salvatorian centre in Australia until the year 1982, when Fr Aloysius McDonagh became the Parish Priest of Esperance, in the diocese of Bunbury. In the late 70’s, prompted by the shortage in numbers, the British Province of the Salvatorians seriously considered passing on their ministry in Australia to the vibrant Polish Province.
During the transition period (1979-1987) four Polish Salvatorians worked together with the British Province Salvatorians (who were mostly Irish). Over all there had been six Salvatorian priests and one brother from the British Province who worked in Australia in 1961-1987.
In 1987 the Polish Province of Salvatorians officially took over from the British Province. This decision created a need for new people who would continue the ministry undertaken by the Salvatorians from the British Province. As a result three volunteers from the Polish Province arrived in Perth in 1988. Since then, almost every year, we have been getting “new blood” from Poland. At present there are over twenty Polish Salvatorians sharing their lives and ministry in Australia.
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