2018

Today was such a lovely, easy day. I wanted to aim for the town of Foncebaddon, elevation 1400m so that I can get to the Cruz de Ferro (The Iron Cross) for sunrise tomorrow. Josh, Tim and Ophelia are joining me, so with only 15km to walk we had a late start at 8am after an incredibly comfortable night, with a stop for morning tea on the way and arriving in town in time for lunch. 

The albergue is one of the very basic ones, with 18 people in double bunks crammed into a very small room, and a disco toilet whose light pulses on and off. 

 We've met up here with some of Tim & Ophelia's friends from their first days, so some happy reunions. 

Meanwhile, I'm remembering 2018. 

2018 brought for me the surprise move to Chatswood Parish, but I had, for the first time, had a full 6 year term as parish priest in Kincumber so it reasonable for Bishop Peter to move me. 

The move to Chatswood came with a mandate to get a development started such as was already planned for Epping (and is nearly finished as I write). Alas, in my three years there we just spun the wheels, paying for consultants and project managers, but in the end not getting anywhere. The present PP Fr David is however making some headway with a new approach. 

I found Chatswood challenging in that it wasn't just a local community church, but it was a hub for the area. People from all around would to Chatswood to go shopping, then go to Mass while there were there. It meant a constant turnover of people, and my usual gusto to stand outside the church and meet my parishioners was dampened because it seemed like every second person was just dropping in on the back of their shopping visit. Fr David has actually capitalised on this by badging the parish as the "Church in the City" and hosting lots of regional events there. 

There were of course many wonderful parishioners, but it just took me a bit longer than usual to find them. 

Part of 2018 was rebuilding a parish staff team. The earlier exit of the business manager had been disruptive to the parish, but Gail Gill had been sent in by the bishop to be a wise and steady hand to iron things out, together with long time staff Nicole, Angela and Amelia. I was grateful that Gail was willing to stay on, but she was going be much better placed in a pastoral role leading adult faith formation, which she moved to once we got a new business manager in recently retired but keen to be un-retired Michael and Jennifer as catechist coordinator. 

Chatswood has the capacity do things at scale, as shown by the photo of all the kids at Easter Sunday Mass below.  

A wonderful feature of the parish was the connection not only with our own primary school, but also with Mercy College at St Pius X College which are on site. But their story will be told tomorrow. 

2018 was also my final year doing the course at Creighton University. It was a rich and rewarding finale as the people I had journeyed with completed our practicum as spiritual directors over the past 12 months, directed and led a retreat for the new first years together, then unpacked the learning in a deep dive post-practicum course over the coming months. 

It was the farewell to our group, with many of the students returning overseas, see https://frjimsreflections.blogspot.com/2018/07/goodbye-sr-thuy.html?m=1   and https://frjimsreflections.blogspot.com/2018/08/lots-wife.html?m=1 

My wonderful roommate Kevin and I had planned ot have a few days in Yosemite National Park to finish, but unfortunately the summer bushfires there put paid to that. We talked about meeting halfway in Hawaii some time, and though we've kept in touch with lots of zoom calls over the past 6 years, we haven't met up n person yet. 

But the Camino is teaching me to never say never....