Fr Des Holm heads north after six years in Tassie

By Catherine Sheehan

Fr Des Holm MSC will be leaving the Kings Meadows Parish at the end of the month and taking up his new role doing supply work for parishes in Brisbane.

After being Parish Priest at Kings Meadows for six years, Fr Des said he would miss the parishioners greatly.

“They are kind hearted and generous, and very, very loyal,” Fr Des said.

“It’s a wonderful parish and there’s lots that I will take with me in my heart when I leave. I know I would always be welcome to come back for visits, and some time down the track I might do that.”

Fr Des’ order, the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart (MSC), have taken care of the Kings Meadows Parish since the 1950s, however due to decreasing numbers, are no longer able to do so.

Fr Des said the parishioners considered themselves as “an MSC parish”.

“Although we don’t have huge numbers, the people that come here are very faith-filed, and I think we have been able to sustain their faith, and feed them spiritually, nourish them, with our prayer and our worship here, and the way that people work together.”

“I’ve appreciated the parish. It’s grown with me… overall it’s been a great experience.”

Prior to taking up his post at Kings Meadows, Fr Des served in Lismore, Adelaide, Sydney, and the Northern Territory.

As a newly ordained deacon, he also served briefly in Papua New Guinea before contracting malaria after which he returned home to Australia.

Although sad to leave Tasmania, Fr Des said he was focusing on the “next chapter” and that having grown up in Toowoomba, he was looking forward to returning to his home state of Queensland.

Fr Des will be replaced as Parish Priest at Kings Meadows by Fr Damien Sladen.