Church history and the enduring faith of the Baradine community have been celebrated at a special mass and display of memorabilia to commemorate St John’s Catholic Church centenary.

Bishop Michael Mckenna from Bathurst took the commemorative liturgy assisted by Father Francis Muhenda on Sunday 17 March.

“Bishop McKenna talked about those who have joined and been part of this community over the years and hopefully those who will worship in the church into the future,” said organising team member, Kim Tym. “He mentioned how special our whole community is.

“It was great to see the school students involved in the mass when they brought up some of the artefacts from our history during the service, it was an important contribution to the celebration.

“It was lovely to see families return to Baradine for the event and those from other denominations who celebrated with us. In some cases, there were three generations of former residents who used to worship at the church and/or attend the school.

“During our search of sacramental records, we found information on people who had been married in the church, so we were able to have a lovely display of wedding dresses and photographs. 

"We were fortunate enough to have Rae Tassell’s beautiful dress she wore at her wedding seventy years ago on display, as well as Nea Worrell’s dress she wore in the church nearly fifty years ago.

“We tried to delineate between the school and the parish in the displays, which is difficult to do because they are so closely connected, which is lovely.”

Mrs Tym said that the church underwent some infrastructure upgrades, which were completed in time for the centenary event.

“We had a new ceiling put in, doors put on, painting done and even some dimmable lights installed,” added Mrs Tym. “It is lovely to see the church get a bit of a revamp; it is a great achievement