Our parish community is ALIVE.
We are surrounded by authentic, gentle, and continuous prayer, embracing the Celebration of the Eucharist, the Sacraments, and intercessory means. As Christians, our faith breathes life into our words, actions, and every aspect of our lives. We strive to be living witnesses of God’s love, extending it to others. Our love for our Christian family is genuine, reflecting Jesus’s commandment to “love one another as I have loved you” (John 13:34).
Inspired by the Gospel and the teachings of Jesus, we guide our thoughts, words, and actions with His true words. Filled with joy and excitement, we embody the vigour of Christ living within us, leading and caring for us. Always eager to do God’s will, we pray for guidance and remain mindful of the needs of others.
As a small but mighty crew, we seek to grow our parish numbers not only for financial stability but to sustain our weekly Eucharistic celebrations, church maintenance, and outreach programs. We try our best to reach out and connect with others who have yet to join our parish family.
A Group of Favoured People
Fr Tom Liddy, 1992
Monsignor Tom Liddy, who grew up in Fairlie, died in Christchurch on 24 January 2002. In his sermon at the 90th Jubilee Mass on 11 October 1992 he reflected in a moving and powerful way on what his Parish had meant to him.
Now that I am old, I have more opportunities of looking back and recognizing God’s gifts in my life, and apart from the most evident ones of faith and grace, church and sacraments, good parents and faithful friends, I think that the most sustaining gift given to me over the years is the experience of growing up in the special atmosphere and the impressive surroundings of this town and this countryside.
I hold the memories in my heart of mountains – awe-inspiring and immovable like God himself. The kinder hills and beautiful valleys, the river flats, and the willow-lined streams all combine to cry out the poetry of God’s presence here and God’s goodness. Each varied season has its mood and light; the crisp winter snow, the new surprise of spring, the clear summer heat, and the varied colours of autumn. They all speak of God in their own way. And I come back to join you in your thanks to God for all these treasures that surround us.
But our memories today are of persons too and it is from the people of Fairlie that I learned as a child the experience of kindness, of faithfulness, and of generosity. I would like to pay tribute to the faith and example of the parishioners of St Patrick’s who came Sunday after Sunday, some from long distances in frost and rain in winter and howling northwestern in summer to draw spiritual strength from the Mass they loved and cherished. Their strength of faith becomes part of our faith and again we thank God for the power of their example.
And we recall today the parish priests of those ninety years – the Marists first of all and then the priests of the diocese. Each one in his own way, contributed something to the total life of the parish and the pastors helped to make the parish what it is today. Some were respected, some were loved, some were practical, and others were more prayerful. Some had good business heads, others were friendly. Some were eloquent, others learned.
It is the same with the Sisters and it is the same too with the people of the parish. Taken altogether they provided an atmosphere of living charity that benefits and inspires all.
You see that is what a parish is for, to nourish us spiritually and to form us in Christ’s image, so that we can witness to others that God is present in our lives, that God is here amongst us, and that we are His people.
That is what a parish is supposed to be – a group of favoured people united with their pastor and drawn together by the faith they love and cherish and blessed by God in that faith, in his Word and in his Eucharist and sacraments, so that they can witness by the way they live that Christ is present amongst us in his love.
Fr Tom Liddy, 1992
The First Mass
Old identities remember Fr Chataigner paying visits at intervals to the few Catholic families residing in the Albury and Fairlie district. When Fr Chataigner returned to France, and in the subsequent course of events, Fr (later Archdeacon) Devoy SM was appointed parish priest of Timaru, he at once made arrangements to have Mass celebrated at a private house in Fairlie and appealed to the people for funds to build a church.
The result was the purchase of a site of five acres at a cost of £100. To Fr Devoy’s successor, Fr Foley SM, was reserved the work of erecting a church, and in 1889 his Lordship Bishop Grimes laid the foundation stone of St Patrick’s. The next pastor of Timaru, Fr (now Dean) Tubman SM, added a block of ten acres to the church property at Fairlie. After Fr Foley’s first visit to the District, the Catholics of Albury and Fairlie were regularly attended.
The Church in New Zealand – In the Path of the Pioneers, 1912
In a letter to Mary Goulter about 1935, T D Burnett MP wrote:
For years the Catholic element in the Mackenzie County was very small with the exception of a few West Highland Catholic sheepmen, John McGregor and John Mackintosh for instance. In the late seventies, considerable numbers of South Irish roadmen flowed in, clearing tracks for the wagons and making roads and cuttings. Also doing the shearing, a big population were South Ireland Catholics. It wasn’t until agricultural settlement in the Fairlie Basin took place, that the Catholic element began to grow.
Archdeacon Thomas Devoy from Timaru celebrated the first Mass in Fairlie in 1882 in the kitchen of the Sheehan family home at the Eversley Reserve. Tradition has it that 30 people were present, both Catholic and non-Catholic. Three Sheehan children were baptised that day as were two or three children from the Keefe family.
After that the people of Fairlie had Mass about once every three months. The priests continued to come from Timaru and stayed with local families, but in 1884 the Gladstone Grand Hotel was built which meant that the accommodation of visiting priests was more easily managed, though it apparently depended on the identity of the proprietor whether it was for money or for love!
Gallery - The Old Albury Church
