Please note the following timely report of the Gathering 2 is the work of an attendee, not official minutes of the meeting. There may be errors which will be corrected as they are uncovered.

Father Des welcomed us and introduced the purpose of today which is to discuss what it is about St Margaret’s Church that we want to capture, honour and share about the history / identity / story of St Margarets Church. and how is the Final Mass envisaged. Jacqui Giuliano, (Proclaim: Office for Mission Renewal), led the group in prayer and discussion on the situation as it stands in relation to the timeline for closure of St Margarets Church. Of crucial importance are the ongoing discussions with John Rudd, Principal of the Primary School, regarding the School Masterplan which includes hoping that a meeting space big enough for school Masses and weekend Masses might be included.

The assurance was repeated that Parish land will not be sold. Ongoing insurance is an issue. We are planning that the church remain open until 31st October 2026, ( the 25th October would be the last Sunday and the final Mass) after which date the Insurance company Eon would ask that the site be enclosed by a fence, with contents removed and regular security patrols implemented to ensure squatters did not take up residence.

A general discussion followed with the following points were raised:

• Father Des will be on annual holidays at the time of the last Mass but he will break his holiday to attend and celebrate the last Mass.

• Clearing of the site needs to happen within 24 months. That includes the building only, the trees surrounding the church need to be retained. All trees were planted by Leonie’s dad from the beginning of the parish until the 1980s.

• Who will inform local community (non church goers) that a Maribyrnong landmark is closing? Letterbox drop may be an answer.

• Discussion on moving final 8.30am Mass to a later time in the day may be useful if we decide to go for a Memorial Lunch, but a desire expressed that we retain the 8.30am time.

• Two new groups formed from people present- one to look at recording the history of St Margarets Church and the other to work on final Mass details.

Discussion continued in small groups which looked at what was to be retained and remembered about this great part of our Parish. Ideas from our group included:

• Livestream and recording of final Mass.

• Photo of St Margaret near Sacristy be re-housed in the Foyer area of the school along with a short biography of St Margaret. Need to discuss this with Principal.

• Handouts for all who attend final Mass should include a written history of the Parish in booklet form.

• Invite Fathers Justin, Jim and others connected to our Parish to concelebrate the Mass.

We finished with afternoon tea including food prepared by Bosko and cakes again prepared by Ron, this time including a diabetic friendly cake. Overall the meeting was a valuable step in walking with the worshipping community.