Since 2024, the Tweed Valley parishes of Kingscliff, Tweed Heads, and Murwillumbah have been journeying together as part of the Regional Parish Collaboration Project. Supported by a dedicated project team (pictured), these communities are working to strengthen parish vitality and wellbeing through intentional cooperation.
How have they been collaborating?
In this context, collaboration is the active and complementary cooperation of Christ’s faithful in service of the Church’s spiritual and temporal mission. Simply put, it is working together to further the mission of the Church. The project has focused on three key domains:
- Parish vitality
- Organisational capability
- Financial sustainability
Importantly, this initiative is not about parishes merging, amalgamating, or losing their unique identities. Instead, it is about deepening lay collaboration so parishes can thrive into the future, adding a layer of support to existing clergy collaboration
Discerning the way forward
The Tweed Valley parishes began by participating in formation and prioritisation workshops. These sessions provided opportunities to articulate each parish’s unique identity and to discern practical ways of working together through shared resources, ideas, and initiatives.
Fr Paul McDonald reflected on the experience: “I’ve been very happy to be part of a pilot project for parish collaboration, and I’ve found it enriching to share ideas with neighbouring parishes. I think there’s a lot we can do together — it’s energising and inspiring to think about what can be achieved, and I’m looking forward to the journey.”
Collaboration continues to take shape in concrete ways:
- Professional development: The parishes recently sent a shared delegation to the National Liturgy Conference to bring new learnings back to their local communities.
- Youth ministry: Top End Youth, a collaborative youth group, now meets monthly across the three parishes.
- Shared resources: The parishes have advertised for a casual administrative assistant to work across all three communities.
- Community building: Plans are underway for combined men’s and women’s group activities.
Fr Peter Wood, Parish Administrator at Sacred Heart Parish, Murwillumbah, shared his perspective on the process: “You might feel hesitant to begin with, but you’ve really got to take a risk and see how the process evolves. I’m sure there will be benefits not just for your own parish, but for others in your area. It’s so good that we can come together like this — looking to the future and choosing to work not in isolation, but together.”
Looking to the future
The Regional Parish Collaboration Team recently gathered for a retreat and workshop day to review progress and plan next steps. Bishop Greg Homeming joined the group for part of the day, affirming the importance of the project and encouraging the team to see themselves as vessels for God’s work.
