St Gerard’s Christmas Lights Display of Our Lady of The Angels Chermside was awarded the Best Light Display Overall and 7 News Best Church and Community Group Award in the annual 4KQ Christmas Lights Competition. Winning the Best Light Display Overall was a milestone for the church as it was the first time that it won in the category in the last 15 years.
Read: Our Lady Of The Angels Chermside Turns Lights On for Christmas Festival 2017
In media interviews, Chermside parish priest Fr Gerard McMorrow shared that there were less than 12 people who helped the church in setting up the Christmas lights display. Fr Gerard hires a cherry picker so that he can assemble the angel and lights on the church roof.
In another interview, Fr McMorrow said that he believed the lights had been instrumental in drawing thousands of people to attend the Christmas Vigil Mass. He noted that this number was bigger than the usual attendees that the church had in the previous years. The parish priest highlighted that the St Gerard’s Christmas Lights Display has put the church on the map, but, more importantly it influenced the community to stay in the church rather than at the malls. He also believed that the Christmas Lights Display brought the church and Christmas traditions closer to the hearts of the younger generation. As an additional benefit, the parish’s Christmas Festival had helped them with needed church renovations.
Meanwhile, Our Lady of The Angels Chermside’s weekend masses every Saturdays at 4:30 p.m. and Sundays at 8:00 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. continues for 2018. Reconciliation Saturday will take place as usual at 4:15 p.m. Weekday Masses continues every Mondays at 8:30 a.m. and during Fridays at 9:00 a.m. Assumption Vigil, meanwhile, is scheduled on the 14th of August at 7:00 p.m.
The complete list of winners of the annual 4KQ Christmas Lights Competition can be found here.