BOOK LAUNCH – Lord, it is Good for Us to be Here – A Centenary History of the Church ofOur Lady of the Rosary Kensington

This Centenary project for OLR has been compiled by Jeff Kildea. The focus of the book is on the actual Church building. The Parish of OLR was begun formally in 1914, although three Masses each Sunday were celebrated in the Monastery parlour from around 1898. The Monastery was opened in 1897. Also, children were taught by OLSH Sisters from as early as 1896 in a rented house in Todman Avenue - long before the school was begun on its present site.

The first Church which also doubled as a school was blessed and opened in 1907 and is now the library for OLR School, adjacent to the Parish Hall.

Of course, as Jeff writes on the back cover of his book, that although the history is about the actual Church building, “it is not just a story about the stonework, the bricks and mortar, and the stained-glass windows that make up the building. It is mainly about the people who inspired it, who designed it, who built it, who adorned it, and who raised the money to enabled it to be built and maintained.” Central to the personalities of this story is the intrepid World War I priest-chaplain, Fr Edmond McAuliffe OBE. His inspiration and direction saw the church built and paid for in, what seems to me, near warp speed: the Foundation Stone was blessed on 2 May, 1926, and the Church opened for the First Mass on 26 November that year!.

About Jeff Kildea

Jeff Kildea is a retired barrister and holds a Doctorate in History. He is an honorary professor in Irish Studies at the UNSW. Jeff is an acclaimed academic and author of several books around the theme of the history of Irish Catholics and their descendants in Australia – many of whom formed the majority of parishioners in the formative stages of OLR Parish. He has also written numerous articles around the same theme, at times, operating out of his innate sense of justice and accuracy, setting the record straight where biased accounts of Catholics were otherwise uncritically accepted by the public. He compiled the Devotional Windows of Our Lady of the Rosary Kensington published in 2007.

Jeff is not compiling this history as an ‘outsider-consultant’. Together with Robyn, his wife, he has raised a family of five in the OLR Parish and has lived here for more than three decades. He knows so much about the parish, its personalities, its ebbs and flows, from the inside, from personal experience and consistent involvement in its life. This, combined with thorough research of available archives, together with material supplied by parishioners, has produced for us a fine reference point, tinged with humour and an historian’s capacity for observation that makes context come alive.”

To get a copy of the book contact Dr Jeff Kildea or via Amazon