Padre Pio Parish Glenmore Park

We are the first parish in Australia to take Padre Pio as our parish patron. We began as a Parochial district affiliated with St. Nicholas of Myra Parish at Penrith, NSW in 1994. The Glenmore Park Catholic community began the canonical process of becoming a separate parish financially and was deemed to be in a position to build a parish church, presbytery and offices in 2004.

We are the fourth such community to evolve into a new parish sprung from the loins of our parent parish, Penrith - the others being Kingswood, Emu Plains and Cranebrook. We began through the efforts of a Redemptorist Brother Br. Vin Dale who knocked on the doors of new homebuilders more than 12 years ago introducing himself and inviting the Catholics to form a Catholic Community. Br Dale’s efforts were supported by Fr. Neville Byrne a Marist priest who continued the ‘hands on’ ministry and spiritual leadership of Brother Dale, advising the people that Mass was being celebrated in the homes of other Catholics. This “Home Mass” system developed the title for the Glenmore Park Catholic Community, “The Church Below the Rooftops”.

Bishop Bede Heather later appointed the Loretto Sisters to the pastoral care of the fledgling community, and their ministry led to the development of a systematic approach to the Community’s leadership. The Community was in the successful care of Sisters Marg Finlay, Margaret O'Sullivan & Denise Braddon.

A Catholic school was built for the Glenmore Park area that educated all who wanted to attend. Some remark with wonder that with such a large number of children attending the Catholic School at Bethany, we are not able to fund the building programme with the existing membership. Bethany was not exclusively established for Catholics and at this point in time many non-Catholics currently attend the school and have no active role in the building up of the Catholic Parish. It is hoped that the evangelical efforts of the parishioners will encourage the families who send their children to the Catholic School to take an interest in the Catholic faith.

In 2004 there were 6 people journeying with the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adult Programme with a view to being welcomed into our Catholic family that following Easter.

In 2004 Bishop Manning appointed Kevin Lee as Administrator and entrusted him with the sacramental and pastoral care of the community and the responsibility of establishing it into a Parish. This necessitated the building of a Catholic Church suitable for the growing needs of the Parish. We are now engaged in a fundraising programme and to achieve this end.

Our Community’s first goal has been to increase awareness of our Saviour Jesus Christ and spread devotion to Our Lord under the inspiration of our beloved patron Padre Pio by publicising his teachings and spirituality; this means keeping the Parish focused on becoming a holy place where God’s love can be felt in a real way through charitable efforts in the local community through our Pastoral Care Team and beyond through our missionary contributions; We wish to promote priestly vocations, strengthen marriages and encourage the active participation in the life of the Church. We are grateful to so many volunteers and willing contributors to the building up of our Church, as well as the past efforts of our committed leaders. If you would like to make a donation to help us in building our Church and promoting Padre Pio and his good works, please contact our Parish Secretary. Most importantly we appreciate that you have visited our Web site and shown your interest in assisting us to do God’s will in our local community.

May God richly bless you and may Padre Pio inspire you.