Horsham has been appointed two new Catholic priests

Monsignor Glynn Murphy has become the main priest for the parish of Horsham, with Father Jim McKay joining him as assistant priest. He was appointed to the position after serving the Hopetoun and Warracknabeal parishes since 2018.

Mons Murphy served as the Director General of Chaplaincy in the Australian Army until his retirement from the position in 2018. He has over 36 years of experience as an army chaplain, and still serves in a reserve position as principal Catholic chaplain.

Originally from Swan Hill, Mons Murphy was ordained in 1983 and has worked in the Diocese and Army ever since. He said he was pleased to serve the Horsham community, in an area much like his hometown on the Murray.

"I come from the Murray so it's not that far away. I do like rural Australia and obviously rural Diocese," Mons Murphy said.

"I am quite happy that the next phase of my ministry is in Western Victoria and also didn't miss being in a large urban area last year."

Mons Murphy said while 2020 presented many challenges to rural Catholic communities, the year also presented opportunities to connect parishes with people in new ways.

"I think that 2020 was very hard on extended families," Mons Murphy said.

"One of the things that was always taken for granted was that three generations could all freely mix and catch up.

"And of course, from a spiritual point of view, there was a great burden on them when there was a death, not to be able to have family gather for the farewells and the funerals.

"But a lot of older people were introduced to laptops and Zoom, and they did get a new lease on life, being able to talk to family and share time via electronic means."

The parish of Horsham contains 10 church communities, 13 towns, six schools and numerous other hospitals and care facilities.

Mons Murphy said electronic communication can play a role in uniting the wide region the parish looks after.

" Across all those 10 church communities we will be able to provide for church gatherings via electronic means, whether that means a talk, be it even live streaming a service," Mons Murphy said.

"I think the opportunities to, in that spiritual sense, gather together the communities in a common faith identity by using electronic means to go out and communicate with many communities at the same time.

"So for me personally, 2020 is a period of growth, of a faith community that is enlarged in the area, enlarged in community numbers, and enlarged in family and individual numbers."

Fr Jim McKay has come to Horsham after 12 years experience as an ordained priest.

Fr McKay worked as a spare car parts dealer in his hometown of Colac before starting his seminary at Corpus Christi in Carlton. His first parish appointment was in Mildura in 2010, where he serviced the community for three and a half years before moving to Ballarat.

Most recently, Fr McKay worked as a priest in the Northern Victorian town of Robinvale.

Fr Mckay is a passionate Richmond supporter, whose interests include fishing, cricket, which he played for 17 years, and football, which he umpired for 15 years through the Colac and Sunraysia regions.

Like Mons Murphy, Fr McKay believes 2020 was a challenging year for the Catholic faith, but is ready to meet the challenges of 2021.

"Services were shut down over the Easter ceremonies. Effectively the churches were shut down over the most important time over the liturgical year," Fr McKay said.

"Then it sort of filtered back in late October, November, December. The numbers were beginning to increase. The numbers back at church services are good.

"I look forward to the challenge of the tyranny of distance. Reaching some of those far-flung places. The different communities, the different community structures, the different parish structures, they're all different.

"They really have a love for their communities, their own townships and the people involved with the towns also have a great love for their local churches, so variety is the spice of life."