To Serve Them All My Days

To Serve Them All My Days by Jack Dragicevich, 2004 (reproduced by permission) The original Catholic church of Avondale on the Great North Rd, now known as TE WHAU, continues to serve the needs of the community as a parish hall and marae (meeting place) for local Maori Catholics and other groups. This is the story: Up until 1921, Avondale and its surrounding districts came under the jurisdiction of Monsignor George Henry Gillan, the first parish priest of St Benedict's Cathedral in Newton. Monsignor Gillan is a figure that looms very large indeed in the early history of Avondale Catholics. Gillan was an Englishman, born in London in 1857, converted from Church of England to Catholicism in his early twenties and was ordained a priest in Italy. He arrived in Auckland in 1887, and held several posts (in Auckland and around the country) before finally being appointed the first parish priest of St Benedict's parish, a position he held until 1921 when he was forced 10 retire due to ill health. In 1903 Gillan was made a domestic prelate and in 1908, Vicar General. He was also the Administrator of the Auckland Diocese from the time of the death of Bishop Lenihan until the arrival of Bishop Cleary. In those days, St Benedict's Parish covered an enormous geographical area and was far larger than the present parish. This "super parish" originally included Grey Lynn. Pt Chevalier, Avondale, Henderson, Owairaka, Mt Roskill, New Lynn, Ml Albert, Te Atatu, Glen Eden, Blockhouse Bay, Green Bay, Titirangi, Oratia, Swanson, Massey, Balmoral and Epsom. To administer to the needs of such a large parish, Monsignor Gillan relied on a number of priests (such as Frs. Hackett, Godringer and Forde) to help him. During the early years priests would come from St Benedict's and say Mass in Ormond's Hotel (near the present ASB on the comer of the Great North Rd and the present Wingate Street at the Avondale Roundabout). The Sisters of St Joseph, also based in Newton, would come and teach catechism at the Avondale Public School, the site of the present day Avondale Primary School. It was Monsignor Gillan, acting under me instructions of Bishop Lenihan, that was responsible for the construction of the first Catholic church in Avondale. It was referred to affectionately by locals as "Gillan's Church". Agitation for a church to service the needs of the rapidly expanding Catholic community in Avondale had been underway for some time. By September 1904, the Catholic newspaper The Month (the forerunner of the Zealandia) recorded a meeting between Avondale residents and Bishop Lenihan:

"The matter for consideration was the advisability of purchasing a plot of ground and erecting thereon a church and school to meet the growing needs of the district. Negotiations for the piece of land hither-to under offer had fallen through. Now a larger site was offered to them. Mr. and Mrs. Moriarty had generously given an acre of land in a commanding position. In addition to this it was intended to purchase an adjoining acre, and so secure a fine piece of land for church purposes in Avondale. The meeting approved the proposal. During the week the bishop purchased the land and soon we may expect to see a church and convent school at Avondale.” Monsignor Gillan secured the land from Mr. Moriarty (and purchased the additional acre block). A local church fund raising committee was enthusiastically set up to raise funds to build the church. One such event that was organised took place at the Avondale Public Hall (the old Library building next to what is now the Hollywood Picture Theatre) on Wednesday evening September 14, 1904: "The very Reverend Dean Hackett will deliver a lecture on "Irish wit and humour" in aid of the church building fund. The lecture will be interspersed with musical items by the best locals, assisted by good talent from Auckland City. An energetic committee of which Miss Ormond is hon. secretary has had the arrangements in hand." By 1908 enough money had been raised to erect the small wooden church, the first St Mary's of the Immaculate Conception at Church Street (the present "Chalmers St"), near the railway lines for the cost of £460. The NZ Tablet, Thursday October 22,1908 reported that: "On Sunday, the new church at Avondale will be opened by the Right Rev. Dean [later Monsignor] Gillan, V.G. St. Benedict's will assist in rendering the appropriate music to the occasion. It is expected that large numbers [of people] from the city and surrounding districts will be present. " The church was a small simple wooden building constructed of native timbers (mostly kauri) which had a raised "high altar at one end" and was entered through a small porch which mimicked the shape of the church itself. It was built to accommodate 100-150 church goers. The altar was dominated by a plaster semicircular dome overlaid with an impressed metal ceiling decorated with a star motif a reference to St Mary, the mother of Jesus, as being "the star of the Sea” in whose name the church was dedicated. The pews for the new church came from the recently renovated St Benedict's Cathedral. This building (now known as Te Whau) was to do duty as the parish church for over 50 years. With the establishment of the first church it was not long before Avondale became a fully fledged parish in its own right, no longer dependant on St Benedict's. On February 26, 1921, a Diocesan Council decided to make Avondale a separate parish with the areas of Blockhouse Bay, Glen End, Henderson, Swanson, Massey, Waitakere and Hobsonville under its control. The

new "Avondale-Henderson" Parish (as it was then known) was officially established on 30 April 1921 with Avondale's "St Mary’s" as the first church of the new parochial district. The first parish priest or Avondale was a young Irishman from Bray, Father William Joseph Forde. Father Forde was no stranger to his new parishioners, during the five year stint he spent at St Benedict's under the jurisdiction of Bishop Lenihan and Monsignor Gillan, he used to take regular trips out to Avondale to celebrate Sunday Mass and undertake weekday visitations of the sick and infirm. In the early days this must have been an arduous journey indeed. It was probably due to Fr. Forde's exceptional organising skills that he was chosen as Avondale's first pastor, to help and guide the newly formed parish in its growth. The Avondale residents must have viewed Forde's appointment as the welcome return of an old friend. However Forde was to have only a brief tenure of less than two years (before being transferred as parish priest to Taumaranui). It was during this time that plans were put in place for acquiring a new site to expand to meet the needs of the Avondale parish. The church grounds at Church Rd (Chalmers Street) were proving too small to accommodate the needs of its rapidly expanding Catholic community. The Month reports that Father Forde was responsible in 1922 for purchasing the 6 acres of land on the Great North Rd. However this is slightly misleading. Although Father Forde was responsible for purchasing the additional land, it was largely through the foresight of Bishop (Later Archbishop) James M. Listen, the Coadjutor Bishop of the Diocese, shortly after his arrival in Auckland in 1920 that the Great North Rd site was secured. It was under Forde's successor, Fr. George Michael Colgan (parish priest from 1922-41) that the old church was moved to the new church grounds on Great North Rd. Early in 1923, an old Avondale parishioner recalls the church's move: “We watched It. They jacked that little church up and put it on bogey wheels or rollers. They had a traction engine and the next day it was pulled as far as the old horse trough, that is where the roundabout is now. They left it for the night and then pulled it down the road [the Great North Rd] where it is now today." St Mary’s church was set down on the site now occupied by the new church. Father Colgan also took this opportunity to upgrade the interior of the church, installing a new tabernacle which he gifted to the people of Avondale. The move and refurbishment cost £256. Later Father Colgan had electricity installed in the old church. He always claimed that it was through the kind services of Bishop Liston, the Coadjutor Bishop who was responsible for providing the money to get the electric power installed, as he paid for it while Bishop Cleary was away on holiday overseas. It was during the Colgan years that the Convent school was established and run by the nuns who served in the parish for over 50 years. In 1925 the Convent of St

Bride's (now a vacant lot used for excess church parking, next to the White Cross MedicaI Centre) was built. Prior to that the nuns had to travel each day by train from the city to teach at the school. While building and extensions to the school were being undertaken, the old St Mary's Church was used both for church services and as a temporary classroom when required. Under the long tenure of Colgan's successor, Father William Joseph O'Doherty, an Irishman from Kilcommon (parish priest from 1941-1967) the final form of the Avondale parish as we know it came into being as most of the outlying areas broke off to form parishes in their own right. This left the core areas of Avondale, parts of Waterview, New Lynn and parts of Titirangi as the Avondale parish, as we know it today. It was also during this time (the mid 1950's ) that most of the present Catholic school took shape, replacing earlier temporary structures. Shortly after his arrival in Avondale an assistant priest to the ailing O'Doherty in 1958, Fr. James McGrath (another Irishman from Tipperary) was appointed administrator of the parish with the responsibility of building a new church. He was later to serve a; Parish Priest for 27 years (from 1968-1985). The old St Mary’s church could no longer cope with the needs of the expanding parish and convent school, where masses on Sundays were regularly filled with up to 300 or more parishioners, or three times the church's original capacity. The first step was to move the old church back on the property so the construction on the new one could begin. One of Avondale's parishioners recalls: "The day the old church was moved to its present position in the school grounds was memorable. The nuns let us all out to stand and watch the proceedings. The huge trucks inched their way across the playground and stopped down near the old staff-room. One corner of the building seemed unsteady and started to rock slightly. Next minute, Father McGrath was there and put his shoulder under it until reinforcements arrived. I can still remember the sight of his face and neck turning purple with the strain." The new brick church (the present parish church) was built by Victor Armanasco (from a Blockhouse Bay pioneering family) and the Hillsborough Construction Company to accommodate 520 people and cost £12,500. It was consecrated on the 28th December by Archbishop Liston as the new "St Mary of the Immaculate Conception". It took less than six months to build. From then on till the present day the old church found a new lease of life as the parish hall. It still serves this purpose today. The interior of the old church was stripped for re-use in the new one. The statue of Our Lady and the Crucifix bearing the figure of Christ that adorned the old church altar were gifts from Monsignor Gillan, the tabernacle a gift from Father Colgan as well as the original chalice and monstrance, which had been the property of Monsignor Hackett and used in the Karangahake church (a gold field in the Paeroa Parish) were

transferred and found pride of place in the new church. The old pews which came from St Benedict's were given to Fr. Quinn when the old Owairaka church burned down in 1969 and parts of the old altar and rails were used to make the altar at the Convent Novitiate in Ponsonby. The old church had minor alterations in the 1970's, the old porch was removed, large steps and a new porch entrance were added, including two rooms either side of the steps, one for use as a storeroom, the other as a kitchen and food preparation area. The last major alterations to the old church occurred in 1989 under Fr. Dennis Bunbury (parish priest from 1986-94). The tired old church was badly in need of renovation serving over thirty years as the parish hall and was renamed Te Whau. At one stage there had even been a fire in the area of the old altar, caused by vandals. The refurbishment included the removal of the raised stage area and semicircular dome that was once the high altar, the installation of modem kitchen facilities and internal toilets, the removal of the old lunch room, replacing the old window frames with new aluminium ones, adding storage cupboards along the walls which had the dual functions of seating, an upgrading of the electricity and lighting to the old building and renovation of the porch, a new galvanised roof and an overall repainting, both internally (including murals with a Maori flavour) and externally. This major renovation was paid for by the Avondale Catholic Community, who donated $150,000 for the work. They would now look upon Te Whau as their marae as well as their parish hall. Over the years, the parish hall has been used for a variety of purposes -- for school plays, as a temporary classroom for religious instruction, for parish meetings, tangi and social gatherings, for Easter vigils, by a variety of church groups, for choir practice, church fetes and as an entertainment centre. It has been hired out for private functions and receptions, used for official welcomes and cultural performances and many other activities too numerous to mention. The renovation has given the parish hall a new lease of life and continues to this day to be used by a variety of parish groups. Its future is assured and it will continue to do so in the future, serving as an important focal point in an active and vibrant, multicultural community that is the Avondale Catholic Parish. References The Catholic Diocesan Archives The Catholic Directory The Cyclopaedia of NZ The Auckland Public Library Scrapbook Collection The Avondale Catholic Parish, 75th Jubilee 6-8 December 1996 Death Clippings, Auckland Institute and Museum Library Various newspapers: The Tablet, The Month, Zealandia, NZ Herald & Western Leader

A. H. Hyde, St. Benedict's Church (a jubilee pamphlet.)