St Macartan’s: a Pilgrim Place of renewal

The kids are back at St Macartan’s in Mornington, and it’s given the place a new lease on life.

A steady but sure rejuvenation is underway, driven by a dynamic vision that embraces opportunities and welcomes home what parish priest Fr Geoff McIlroy calls ‘my lost sheep’. He also credits the hundreds of pilgrims who have come to visit during Jubilee 2025 with inspiring an opening-up to other cultures and styles of worship.

The church has seen a significant shift in its demographic, with a growing proportion of younger families. This transformation is the result of deliberate efforts to re-engage those ‘lost sheep’ from among the 90 per cent of self-proclaimed Catholics who are not actively practising their faith.

‘When I got here, the average age was 72, I think, and it’s now around 65,’ Fr Geoff says. The demographic shift began as he tried out ways to encourage the parents of the region’s many Catholic school students back to the Church.

‘I said, right, I’ll go to where they are, and where are they? Wherever the kids do sports. So I went and got to know them, and said, “How do I get you back into the Church? How do we get you back in the parish?”’

They began putting on events tailored to the interests and needs of the children, and over the last six years, these have proven to be a resounding success. ‘Every time we run an event, one of the families comes and adopts us and stays. So now, we’ve got two thriving youth groups; we’ve got that demographic of 30–50-year-olds coming, and we can now run a children’s liturgy at one Mass. So we’ve got them back.

‘When they discovered the faith community, they realised how enriching it can be for their own lives and their children’s lives.’

These efforts are part of the broader Way of the Gospel promoted by the Archbishop of Melbourne, Fr Geoff says, reminding the clergy of their role as good shepherds. ‘No good being a good shepherd if there’s no flock to shepherd, is there? So we go and find them and remind them of the charisma of Christ, and his preaching and proclaiming.’

Tim Lambourne, the parish coordinator, echoes the sentiment of community engagement. He points to the success of initiatives like the playgroup, which currently has eight kids, just a month after its inception.

The retired policeman has lived on the peninsula for 25 years and was a longtime parishioner before taking up the coordinator role four months ago. He has enthusiastically joined Fr Geoff in the renewal project, proposing events such as a pet blessing in November and a Christmas fair. They are just two of the events the energetic parish runs.

‘We’ve got a great parish council, who are not only great ideas people; they’re doers,’ Fr Geoff enthuses. Innovations include one event that Fr Geoff says he scoffed at at first: a teddy bears’ picnic, which included a blessing of the teddy bears and a puppeteer performing biblical stories.

Seasonal events are a hit with the community too. ‘We do a Palm Sunday service with a live donkey and people dressed up as Jesus. The palm fronds are down. The kids come in, and they all have fun. We get them rabbits running around the backyard for Easter.

‘We put a new event on every year aimed at the community at large—I don’t care if they’re Catholic or non-Catholics—so as to bring them on board and have fun in our faith,’ Fr Geoff explains.

The church has also undergone a physical transformation, with renovations, repairs and a spot of redecorating in the form of a Michelangelo-style ceiling in the foyer. Fr Geoff says they made a big effort to upgrade the church and the entrance for their own parishioners, but it turned out to be timely as St Mcartan’s was chosen to be one of the Archdiocese’s pilgrim places.

‘It’s opened our eyes to how lovely our church is by listening to some of the pilgrims who have come through,’ he says. ‘It’s always nice when somebody visits and they walk away saying we like it.’

The commitment to creating a welcoming and secure environment is paramount at St Macartan’s. Fr Geoff’s philosophy of keeping the church open throughout the day for quiet reflection led to concerns about the safety of elderly parishioners, so they installed security cameras, providing ‘peace of mind’ for both the clergy and the congregation. Tim can now monitor the entire site from his office, and it allows him to greet unannounced pilgrim arrivals.

With wedding season starting, St Macartan’s is busy on weekends. Fr Geoff says the church is the gateway to the Peninsula’s reception centres, and its long aisle makes it a popular choice for young couples. ‘What bride doesn’t want to show off walking down a 24-metre aisle,’ he quips. ‘I’ve been actively encouraging weddings here, even if it’s just the fact that it’s a stepping stone to a reception place. But at least they’ve got married in a Catholic church, and we have acquired young couples, who’ve become part of our congregation, which has been lovely.’

Fr Geoff says he was chuffed when Auxiliary Bishop Martin Ashe asked if St Macartan’s would be willing to be a pilgrim church. It is the largest Catholic church on the Mornington Peninsula, with a capacity of 450. ‘I started thinking straight away what can we do extra? And I thought, well, we can put adoration on Saturday mornings for pilgrims. And now we’re going to keep adoration going on Saturday mornings, even after Jubilee.’

The influx of pilgrims—more than 550 so far—has been a refreshing experience. ‘They’ve come from the Philippines as part of their pilgrimage,’ says Tim. ‘But generally speaking, the majority, I would say 70 per cent, have come from two parishes in Keysborough and Dandenong there, the Vietnamese shrine, and the other one in that area. Some came from Sunshine the other day.’

Pilgrims will often come in large groups, 40 to 50 at a time, bussing down from Melbourne or coming across from Queenslcliff on the ferry. Fr Geoff makes a point of meeting and greeting these groups, offering a blessing and a brief history lesson on St Macartan.

The church’s patron is not well known in Australia, but St Macartan was a pivotal figure in early Irish Christianity, serving as the trusted right-hand man and companion to none other than St Patrick himself. As Fr Geoff playfully explains, Macartan was ‘the one carrying his bags and helping him across the rivers’. Macartan was consecrated by St Patrick as the first bishop of Clogher, Ireland, in the fifth century. His life was dedicated to spreading the Gospel, converting pagans and establishing the foundational structures of the Church in Ireland.

The pilgrims have provided another source of renewal for the Mornington church. ‘They bring their own language and their own style of prayer and song, which I love,’ Fr Geoff says. ‘I’d love to identify that within our own community, the different styles and different ways of praying. It’s very white Anglo here, but there are smatterings of other cultures coming in. The pilgrims, I suppose, have inspired us to look at other cultures and celebrating them.

‘As regards to our own modest little church, I think it’s just a beautiful place to pray. It’s got that that sense when you walk in, it’s as a whole place, a lovely place. Costs a fortune to upkeep, but that’s alright; let’s keep them happy.’