St Thomas Church in Moonbah

Bogumila Filip
1-3 July 2011

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Catholic Church in Jindabyne. The Late Fr Wally Stefanski had been a Parish Priest here in the years 1990-1998. And this is his successor: Fr Peter Miller (with guests from Sydney). The faithful from Jindabyne, Moonbah, Berridale, Thredbo and Dalgety happily tell stories about Late Fr Wally, and the pilgrimages to the Holy Land and the Vatican he had organised To honour him, they have installed a Memorial Plaque.

Off we go to St Thomas Church in Moonbah (13 km away from Jindabyne) which had been renovated by Fr Wally... No wonder because the church it is on a heritage list. The land was donated in 1861 by Thomas Pendergast, a son of Irish convict. It was busy in the past. Nowadays there are no regular Masses, just a wedding or a baptism or a funeral now and then... Beautiful interior. Fr Peter with Bogumila Filip.

Beautiful altar. Fr Peter with Ernestyna Skurjat-Kozek. Stations of the Cross - beautifully renovated during Fr Wally's time, donated by local catholics. The church can contain over a hundred of the faithfull. At the far end, there is an antique pipe organ (brought all the way from New York).

So we have asked a renowned pianist Krzysztof Malek to play the antique instrument. Here we go. Under Krzysztof's fingers the organ played like new... though allegedly 6 years ago it played for only 3 minutes and then abruptly stopped. And here we are for yet another surprise. Can you see the memorial plaque behind us? It appears the very first Mass on Mt Kosciuszko was celebrated almost 100 years ago!!! So the Mass celebrated in February 2007 (after the

Next to the church there is a lovely little building, function room. One could hold any functions here - from weddings to festivals! On the way back we stop at the Jindabyne Aero Club. Hmm....who knows, maybe we can organise joy flights for our Aboriginal friends? Wondering how many passengers can fit in?

And back to Jindabyne. What a beautiful landscape! And we are on the way back to Sydney. Fr Wally must have been driving through Berridale to the Dalgety church so many times...