We are unique in that we are the only parish in Australia with this title, not founded by the Carmelite Order who began their Australian mission from Ireland in 1881.
At our Parish Historical Committee Meetings, we have often discussed how our church was given the title of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in 1864. Recently, I was doing some research into our pastor at the time– Father James Moore, who travelled to Sunbury monthly or fortnightly from Keilor for Mass. James Moore studied for the priesthood at All Hallows College, Dublin (like Fr Martin Ashe), where one of the lecturers in the 1850’s was Rev. Dr. Thomas Albert Bennett, who was the Provincial of Irish Carmelites from 1852 and was famous for his work around Dublin in founding secondary schools (still operating) and later in 1861 was President of All Hallows.
From the Carmelite Father Bennett, the seminarian James Moore probably learnt of the history of the friars of Our Lady of Mount Carmel who in 1274 came to Dublin from England where they had come back to in 1235 after abandoning Mount Carmel in northern Israel due to persecution. By 1500, there were 25 Carmelite monasteries in Ireland. Henry VIII and Cromwell persecuted the Carmelites. They did not die out completely and flourished again in the 18th Century.
As we prepare to celebrate our Parish Feast Day next Sunday, we honour the memory of Fr James Moore. In 1884, he was ordained the bishop of Ballarat and in the next 20 years became a resolute and fearless builder of schools and churches in the Diocese of Ballarat We can say he began his building well here. In 1904 he died of diabetes.
Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish Sunbury 