A pilgrim’s guide to Sacred Heart, Croydon

If you’re hoping to meet a ghost while on pilgrimage, unfortunately you’ll be out of luck at pilgrim place Sacred Heart Church in Croydon. Fr Melvin Llabanes has banished them.

‘Ghosts? Oh, when I arrived here, I sent them away. I said, Look, I take possession of this property, so I command you,’ Fr Melvin jokes.

Parish administrator Lynn Kuczera adds, ‘There really was talk of a monk roaming around, though. I never saw him. It was just a rumour I heard.’

Sacred Heart Church is a fine old building, not at all spooky, but rich in history. Built as a monastery by the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart and opened by Archbishop Mannix in April 1939, its main focus, according to Lynn, was teaching young seminarians. ‘This building was given to the parish by the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart. Declining numbers meant the monastery had to close,’ she says.

Like every old building, it has its stories. ‘Since the 1930s, these walls have heard a lot, witnessed all the life and history here,’ Fr Melvin says. ‘Even the reality of them living here with shared accommodation, small rooms without heating and cooling. They were really very heroic.’

Lynn confirms the harsh conditions: ‘The temperatures are quite extreme up there [on the second storey] in winter and summer. We tried to use the space as accommodation for a retreat, but with no heaters or air conditioners, plus shared bathrooms, we couldn’t charge much. It wasn’t viable.’

The current church is an expansion of the original chapel, which sits like an ocean liner sailing into a horseshoe-shaped quay, the old dormitories.

The original monastery was also a working farm, which Fr Melvin says was how the residents survived. ‘There were cows and some fruit trees. They were more or less self-sufficient.’

Most of that land is now a privately owned retirement village, which surrounds the church grounds. ‘There’s no association with the church, except that we look after some of those people there, especially those who often do retire here because of the proximity of the Catholic church,’ Fr Melvin says.

His own story is interesting. ‘I’m originally from the Philippines,’ Fr Melvin says. ‘I’m now in my sixth year here at Sacred Heart Croydon. Before I came here, I was eight years in Sydney—actually from Perth to Finland; Finland to Sydney; Sydney to Melbourne.

‘I was chosen for Finland and was there for six years. I ended up with a parish, but I had to learn the language first. So at least two years learning the language, doing the English pastoral ministry for foreigners who don’t know Finnish.’

This experience of bridging cultures and languages serves him well in Croydon, where the parish itself is a blend of histories and communities.

‘Historically these valleys were Dutch, Irish, some Italian, Polish,’ he says. ‘But there are other groupings now that are coming. Because this area has 19 nursing homes and retirement villages, many parishioners are working in healthcare, including in the hospitals in the Croydon area, and even in Box Hill.’

Fr Melvin believes most of the newer faces are from India, the Philippines and South America. Many are young families, and others are connected to the thriving school next door, which has about 485 students. The school is growing so much that some of the old monastery dormitory rooms are now classrooms.

‘I’m happy to see that the congregation has grown after COVID,’ he says. ‘Some of the parishioners are homebound, so we have a big pastoral ministry to give Holy Communion to those who are unable to come.’

Sacred Heart parish itself is an amalgamation of two older parishes, St Edmond’s in Croydon and St Francis Sales in East Ringwood. Lynn has been involved since the beginning: ‘I’ve been working here 15 years, but I’ve been part of the parish for 39. I was originally a St Edmond’s parishioner, then came here when the two parishes merged.’

The merger happened in 1993 and included two other communities that weren’t officially part of the two parishes. Fr Melvin concedes it was at times challenging. ‘To put four communities into one is always a big challenge to unite them, because of different traditions and cultures of the parishes. Although some people claim now it’s better.’

Sacred Heart has welcomed many pilgrims so far this Jubilee Year. Groups often come for Mass or private prayer, and pilgrims are free to explore the grounds. ‘They’re allowed to pray in the church as long as they want to, walk around the cloister and so on. We have a beautiful view,’ Fr Melvin says.

‘We try to provide hospitality as well, by asking some parishioners to welcome them if I’m not available, and show them around.’ Although Fr Melvin advises calling first, to see if the church is available.

Sacred Heart is home to a collection of relics with stories of their own. ‘We are blessed with relics, and there’s some history behind it,’ Fr Melvin says. ‘There was a time that the relic of St Edmund was misplaced. It was deposited somewhere in a corner, then was accidentally taken to Sydney. Someone recognised it as a relic and it was brought back here.’

The collection was enriched by a generous donor, ‘somebody who, before she died, gave us all the relics that she had. So we also got St Francis of Sales and others.’ Some relics are embedded in the altar, including one of Charles I, the 17th-century English Protestant king whose Catholic marriage contributed to his beheading.

The church was consecrated on Pentecost in June 2000, and Fr Melvin has made it a tradition to commemorate that day yearly. He is also reviving the feast of the Sacred Heart, which he says was not a tradition in the older parishes before they merged.

‘I am trying to recover it, but on the Sunday after the actual day,’ he says. ‘We celebrate on a Sunday because if you celebrate on the Friday, most people are working.’

This year, the celebration coincides with Fr Melvin’s silver jubilee of ordination, as well as the feast of St Peter and St Paul.

Fr Melvin says they want feast days to be a real celebration, starting with the Mass. ‘As a community, the best way to gather is either you organise food, sometimes you organise some activities, a concert or a speaker.’

‘But food is always part of it,’ he says. ‘Jesus said: “This is my body, this is my blood.” And so, it’s an extension of the Eucharistic celebration. And it’s community-building as well. We should have reason to celebrate.’