Year of Prayer comes alive at Resurrection Parish

Every Thursday night during school terms, in the busy outer south eastern suburb of Keysborough, parishioners gather at Resurrection Parish to spend an hour by candlelight in quiet prayer and meditation before the Blessed Sacrament.

The prayer night, started by visiting seminarian Dominic Lawes in 2023, has become an integral part of parish life and an initiative Parish Priest Fr Brian Collins says has become even more significant during the Year of Prayer. ‘With Pope Francis announcing the year, we said, “Let’s keep this going. Let’s keep calling people to pray,”’ Fr Collins says.

Pope Francis inaugurated 2024 as a Year of Prayer in January, asking Catholics to prepare for the Year of Jubilee in 2025 by rediscovering the need for prayer in the world.

‘I ask you to intensify your prayer to prepare us to live this event of grace well, and to experience the strength of God’s hope,’ said Pope Francis at the announcement.

This request is being diligently met by faithful at Resurrection Parish, with as many as 20–30 parishioners attending the prayer night each week.

‘A team of leaders facilitate the prayer reflection time,’ Fr Brian says. ‘This includes Deacon Hoa Tran, Vicki Russell and Loretta Venten, who all play important roles in creating a prayerful environment for attendees.’

The evenings offer participants time for silent prayer interspersed with short meditations and readings from Scripture that are chosen to reflect the upcoming Sunday’s gospel or a special feast or season that is being celebrated.

‘Recently on the feast of the Assumption, we placed the statue of Our Lady into the centre of our prayer environment focus. We use different symbols that help us to reflect more deeply,’ Fr Brian says.

‘And on 1 October, we expanded the prayer evening to be a full day of prayer to ask for peace for those places in our world that are at war and experiencing terrorism.’

Creating opportunities for parishioners to meet and build connections has been a long-standing focus of Fr Brian in his 25 years as parish priest, together with his leadership team and parish staff. Keysborough is considered one of the most multicultural suburbs in Victoria, with more than 100 languages spoken and 62.5 per cent of residents speaking a language other than English at home, according to the 2021 census.

‘Many of the multicultural groups have their own prayer groups, but this has been an opportunity for them and others who don’t have a group to come together,’ Fr Brian says.

‘A group from menALIVE have been coming to it, as well as the Legion of Mary, which has really been wonderful.’

As well as being a significant year for the Church globally, 2024 is a particularly important one for Resurrection Parish as it celebrates its 50th anniversary.

Fr Brian says the parish has always strived to nurture and develop people at every stage of their life, and he is proud that it is a place that from its inception has focused on service to others.

‘When it comes to our faith, we have always gathered under the banner of “Worship and Service”,’ he says. ‘We are a faith community that worships the one God who challenges us to be at the service of one another, especially the most vulnerable.’

The anniversary is being celebrated throughout the year, and culminated on 22 September with the launch of a history book of the parish, to which many parishioners contributed their memories and experiences.

The celebrations on the weekend of the launch included an ‘international kitchen’, a longstanding tradition of the parish that allows this deeply multicultural community to break bread and share in each other’s cultures.

‘Resurrection Parish is a dynamic place; it’s an exciting place. We are a parish that encourages and is sustained by community involvement, where all are welcome for “worship and service”, our parish motto,’ Fr Brian says.

‘It’s important that we honour the parishioners’ stories and the part all have played in shaping our community.’