WelCom July 2019:
Brendan Quirk
Julie Marshall receives the Benemerenti Medal and scroll from Fr Sanele Finau, Fr Ephrem Tigga and Mons David Bell.
A joyful Mass of love and thanksgiving was concelebrated on Sunday 26 May 2019, at a packed-out St Anthony’s Church, Seatoun, Wellington, of the Holy Trinity Parish. Mrs Julie Marshall was presented with a Benemerenti Medal and framed scroll, which Pope Francis had awarded in January this year.
Fr Ephrem Tigga OFM Cap Parish Priest, assisted by Monsignor David Bell of Palmerston North, and Fr Sanele Finau of Wellington, a former parish priest, presented Julie with the medal and scroll.
The Mass and special liturgy was a happy collaboration of Julie’s extended family, the ‘Thursday Friends’, Samoan and Tongan families, testimonials from parishioners, as well as musicians, students, St Vincent de Paul Society members and other parish ministries, helpers, and refreshment organisers for the after-Mass get-together.
Julie arrived with her family to the parish in the early 1980s. Ever since, she has carried out her compassionate and devoted stewardship in God’s name on a daily basis, tending to the spiritual, physical and social well-being of about 30 elderly parishioners and their families. With her band of dedicated helpers and members of the St Vincent de Paul Society, Julie also organises ‘Thursday Friends’ for the elderly in St Anthony’s Church community, which comprises the Rosary, Mass, updates and birthdays, lunch, social get-togethers and transport.
At the forefront of Julie’s outstanding service has been her life-long personal prayer and leadership of liturgy and faith practice in our community and the other parishes she has lived in. Julie has also been quietly archiving a precious and substantial treasure trove of interviews, celebrations, eulogies, reflections and photos of many people and events over the four decades she has been a part of St Anthony’s Church community.
Brendan Quirk is President of the Seatoun and Miramar Conference, Society of St Vincent de Paul, Holy Trinity Parish, Wellington.