‘Leave nothing undared’: 60 years of St John Vianney’s Parish Springvale North

This year marks 60 years since St John Vianney’s Parish, Springvale North first opened its doors. On 28 April, Archbishop Peter A Comensoli celebrated an anniversary Mass, accompanied by 17 concelebrants. And on 3 May, a dinner dance at Freccia Azzurra Club drew 130 of those who have contributed to the life of the parish community over the years. Long-term parishioner Nimmi Candappa shares some of the parish story, reflecting on the ways God enriched and enlivened this close and vibrant community over so many years.

The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate have been the mainstay at St John Vianney’s Parish throughout its 60 years, their values defining the community they have created there.

The founder of the order, St Eugene de Mazenod, known for his passionate proclamation of God’s love, urged his priests to ‘leave nothing undared for the Kingdom of God’ and to be ‘afire with zeal for the salvation of all’.

St Eugene’s exacting standards demanded that his young priests seek ‘at all times to reach the very summit of perfection’. St John Vianney’s priests over the years have embodied, in many different ways, the qualities encouraged by the founder of their order.

With a passion for mission, many left their home countries and families, sometimes for a decade at a time, to support parish communities and nurture faith through their gentleness and humility, compassion and fraternal outreach, providing their flock with an endearing and tangible example of love of God and love of neighbour.

The Oblates, who originated in France, first arrived in Australia in 1894, disembarking at Fremantle in Western Australia. It would be another seven decades before Archbishop Justin Simmonds would offer the Oblates, in 1964, a parish in south-east Melbourne, and only if they were also willing to begin a school for boys nearby.

Leave nothing undared for the Kingdom of God.

So, after establishing St John Vianney’s on the site offered by the Archbishop, with the Irish Oblate Fr Felix Gavin as founding parish priest, Sri Lankan Oblate Cardinal Thomas Cooray officially opened Mazenod College’s new Mulgrave campus in 1968. The Oblates had opened nearby St Mary’s seminary just five years earlier, in 1963, with Fr Austin Cooper OMI as rector.

These three significant Oblate ministries—affectionately known as ‘the Oblate Bermuda Triangle’—continue to play a pivotal role in the Australian Province.

St John Vianney Primary School was established in 1959, and with the opening of John R Hannah Hostel for the aged in 1987, the parish vision of caring for people ‘from the cradle to the grave’ became a reality.

Nor were the less fortunate forgotten. Young parishioners enthusiastically supported the work of Rosies Oblate Youth Mission, established in Rosebud in 1974. Fr Ian Mackintosh had a particular focus on youth ministry, with current Provincial Fr Christian Fini OMI playing an active role during his days as a seminarian. The ministry grew and became the backbone of the national Oblate Youth Australia movement.

St John Vianney’s has also been an extraordinary source of vocations, with at least three locals ordained over the years, and many others entering the seminary to discern their vocation.

But the vibrancy of St John Vianney’s is not only the work of the priests, with many volunteer-fuelled initiatives enriching the life of the parish. The Helping Hand social action group, Dads’ Army, Mothers’ Club, Garden Club and Bingo all played an important part in building the parish community.

‘How to pray’ courses fostered a strong faith focus, complemented by RCIA and Alpha programs, as well as early-morning Lenten and Advent Masses. Social gatherings are also a distinguishing feature of parish community life. These have included annual golf days, dinner dances, netball and football teams, the Mulgrave Art and Craft show, and a legendary and much-anticipated annual fete, which in some years raised more than $100,000.

The seeds of all this hard work and commitment can be traced back to the early days of the parish. Before they had a church building, for instance, parishioners would carry chairs to and from St Joseph’s Springvale to St John Vianney’s—some 3 kilometres each way—every weekend. And the church and presbytery were built by parishioners ‘mucking in and doing their bit’.

The first Irish priests in the parish, including Fr Donal Madigan OMI and Fr Pat Moroney OMI, also embraced this rough and ready attitude, sleeping in seminary classrooms for nearly three years, and walking for up to an hour from the seminary to the parish as the parish house was built.

Similarly, the Mothers’ Club not only set up a trestle-table school tuckshop with homemade sandwiches, but also cleaned the school toilets. And teachers joined forces with parish secretaries and builders, all volunteering time to help bring their vision for the new school and parish to life.

Past priests and parishioners alike have attested to the beauty of this community.

When an elderly, long-term parishioner had to retire far from her parish family, this vision expanded to include an aged-care home directly connected to the parish—the John R Hannah Aged Care home, now run by VMCH.

These were times of ‘new houses and growing families and scarce resources and little spare cash, where social-life centred around the parish’. From these difficult but energising and supportive times emerged the tight-knit community of St John Vianney’s.

Past priests and parishioners alike attest to the beauty of this community, praising its ‘delightful sense of community’, ‘tangible vitality’ and ‘great generosity and loyalty’. It was a community known for the dedication of its volunteers, ‘unique spirit’ and ‘mutual love and care between parishioner and priest’. Reminiscing about the early years of the parish, one member of the community recalls ‘much laughter—we enjoyed each other’s company.’ Another speaks of ‘a happy, faith-filled-congregation’.

In a letter reproduced in a commemorative booklet, Archbishop Peter A Comensoli describes the parish as ‘an important part of the Church in the Archdiocese of Melbourne’, noting that the Oblates have even produced a diocesan bishop, Bishop Mark Edwards OMI.

What is the secret behind St John Vianney’s vibrant and unique community spirit? Why, after 60 years, do long-ago relocated parishioners and priests still travel from various parts of Victoria and Australia to celebrate milestone events at the parish, calling it ‘coming home’?

Perhaps an answer lies in the ethos of St Eugene, who believed the Oblates’ role was to help people ‘act like human beings, first of all, and then like Christians, and, finally, we must help them to become saints’. Perhaps it’s the Oblate approach of journeying gently with the congregation, rather than dragging them along. Or perhaps it is a willingness to accept others—as Fr Oswald Firth once remarked, ‘They saw in me a brother, not the colour or size or background … These people have transcended all that divides and focused on all that unites.’

We want our parish to be a family, friendly, accepting of one another, loving and caring.

Parish life was, from the beginning, fun and light-hearted. An early parish football match, for example, had the ‘Seminary Sinners’ pitched against the ‘SJV’s Vipers’. Priests often joined parishioners in dancing at fundraiser dinners, a sense of humour always at the ready. Fr Tony Maher OMI, for instance, was heard to quip, ‘Oblates can easily get by on four hours sleep ... if they can get three hours during the day!’

The genuine care within the community for parishioner and priest alike can be seen in a standing invitation in the early years for priests to duck out between morning Mass and confession times to join parishioners, such as the ‘Honorary Oblate’ Marj Ryan, in their homes for breakfast. And in more recent years, Fr Mackintosh insisted on driving my late dad home one winter’s evening after Mass, worried he might stumble in the dark.

Sharing his vision for the parish, parish priest Fr David Francis says, ‘We want our parish to be a family, friendly, accepting of one another, loving and caring; a multicultural, musical and supportive community growing together in faith and as people; a beacon of hope for Melbourne, vibrant, a full church with children’s ministries, children’s choir and catechism, Scripture studies, with worship being the main focus, building faith-filled families. We want our parish to truly reflect the early Christian community!’

Here’s to the next 60 years!