This page celebrates our wonderful parishioners at Our Lady of the Sacred Heart and St Margaret Mary’s Parishes. As we add more and more of our beloved parishioners here, we’ll build a ‘family’ story for our parishes. If you’d like to submit a photo and a paragraph for the web site please send to webministry@sacredheart.org.au .
 
Siles Family  

Holly and Peter have been members of the Randwick parish since the Baptism of their daughter Paloma in 1996 and more heavily involved since Holly’s baptism as an adult in ’97.

Holly enjoys being involved in the parish and is currently enrolled in the bible study course that Fr Tony is running. Paloma is also active in the parish with the monthly youth masses and is a regular reader. Jacob is a gifted drummer who was recently spotted in the church band.

The photo is from a recent visit to St Mary’s Towers @ Douglas Park.

Holly and Peter also are involved with Fr John Rate and other couples with a group called Teams of our Lady that try to meet approximately once a month with a dinner and discussion.


From left to right : Holly, Ignatius age 14 & Peter
Caleb age 7, Jacob age 9 & Paloma age 12
Blomgren Family  
We are The Blomgren family and we have been living in OLSH Parish all told four years.  We moved from Ireland in 2002.  Jan is 14 and in Year 8 at Marcellin and Hannah is 11 and in last year at OLSH Primary.  Fr John is great and OLSH is a good parish for families and it is great to see the kids involved in Mass.

L to R: Jan age 14, Peter, Hannah age 11 and Donna

Caresa Santos  

Caresa Santos has been a parishioner of Randwick for about 5 years and is the co-ordinator of the RCIA programme at OLSH She is also a Special Minister and a member of the Liturgy Committee. As if this is not enough Caresa is also a member of the Outreach Programme run by the Sisters of Charity at St. Vincent's Hospital, Darlinghurst.

Although Caresa was born in the Philippines she moved around during her childhood because her parents were in the Diplomatic service. In 1972 the family came to Canberra from England where they had spent 5 years.

She loves being a part of OLSH and working with the wonderful MSC priests.

In her spare time she loves music, movies, eating and all forms of dancing - not necessarily in that order.
Tom  

Tom is an Acolyte at OLSH Randwick and has been a resident of Randwick for several years. In fact, he started school at Brigidine College amd then went to Bathurst to complete his schooling. After leaving school, Tom returned to Randwick and became active in the parish. Tom is very generous with his time and commitment to the very important role of Acolyte. He serves daily at Mass as well as being available for Sunday Masses.

In his personal life Tom loves Photography, Horticulture including Landscape Design and Gardening. His special interests are art/painting and bushwalking. Who knows - he may have an exhibition at some time in the future.

Jon, Brian, Tom, Fr John

Tony Amidharmo  
The Randwick Parish has a very strong Music Ministry. Tony Amidharmo is the conductor & organist of the Via Dei Choir which sings every second Sunday at the midday Mass and other important festive occasions.
 
Tony came to Australia, from Indonesia, with his family when he was 15.  He completed his schooling at Marcellin college and then studied Civil Engineering at UNSW. He now works as a consulting engineer specialising in building structures.
 
Music has always been part of Tony's life. He attributes his musical success to the perserverance of his mother who encouraged him to practice. He is indebted to her for this encouragement because he now knows how important music is in his life. We too are indebited to Mrs Amidharmo because we are privy to this great talent! For a short period while at Uni Tony did stop playing but soon realised he missed it too much. He then went on and obtained his Licentiate prior to graduation. Tony's love for music continues to grow. He now studies the Organ and continues to delight the congregation with beautiful sacred music whenever he plays.
 
Tony is kept busy with his profession and his music but he does love walking and socialising. He lives with his family.

Chris & Tony
Alexander 'SANDY' Abbey  
Sandy hails from Parkes in the Central West of N.S.W. and came to study Civil Engineering at UNSW. He stayed with his grandparents at Rosebery.  While at Uni, Sandy met up with the Catholic Chaplain who just happened to be our very own Fr. Tan Msc. Sandy became curious about OLSH and came to Sunday Mass and has remained with us ever since. He loves coming to Mass at OLSH even though he now resides on the North Side of the harbour.
 
The year 2008 has been the greatest one for him as he became involved in World Youth Day and he experienced the best week of his entire life.  For him the Opening Mass was the most spectacular although he enjoyed every one of the ceremonies he attended. He had a profound spiritual awakening during this period and has now declared his intention to enter the religious life. He has chosen our own M.S.C. religious order and will enter the Novitiate in early February, 2009. Our prayers and good wishes go with you Sandy!
 
He is a sports fanatic, loves cricket and is a ' Go the Swans'  Fan.
 
Claire McNamara
 
Claire is another of our parishioners who was involved in the planning and preparation for World Youth Day.  As she had already been to previous WYD celebrations in Canada and Germany her input was invaluable.
 
OLSH is Claire's parish during the week as she works in the nursing profession and is employed in the Sydney Children’s Hospital at Randwick. She lives at Centennial Park which is a good half way address for her as she attends St. Mary's Cathedral for week-end Mass. Claire is also involved in a prayer group on Tuesday evenings at Cathedral House.
 
Any time left over from all of that is spent socialising!
Sandy & Claire