It was only two months ago that the Ukrainian Catholic Parish in Brisbane finished renovating the parish church in Woollongabba: the roof and the dome were rebuilt, and repainted. The church looked almost brand new for the visit of Patriarch Sviatoslav Shevchuk on 29th September 2014.
Two months later on 27th November 2014 at about 4:30 p.m. the parish centre was hit by one of the worst hail storms in Brisbane’s history. Fr. Stefan Sapun says that it will be necessary to redo almost everything. All the windows are broken, the roof and dome have to be repaired, and the church must be repainted. The same will need to be done for the house at the back of the church. Somehow the presbytery suffered little damage. “It is going to cost well over a hundred thousand dollars to complete.” says Fr. Stefan. “It will take a long time because much of the city suffered the same damage. There is so much repair work to do.” he added.
The rest of us in Australia pray for the parish in Brisbane and pray for their patience and perseverance.
It is very lucky that the parish is covered by good insurance.
