David

Over the years the Majellan House chapel was a favourite with families for blessings and Masses.

Like the Redemptorist priests and brothers who moved from Ballarat in 1963, the current Majellan team went in search of a new home once the decision was made to sell Brighton.

Easter Saturday Night at Byron Bay. The church was in semi-darkness and except for the odd sniffle there wasn’t a sound. The visitors to the small-town church wondered what was going to happen. There was an air of excitement about the place.

The Majellan has had only six editors in its 73-year history, Father Fr John Hogan being the first. Fr Bill Stinson took over the reigns in the 1950s.

Numerous priests and brothers were part of the Redemptorist community during the 58 years at Brighton. They came from interstate and overseas. Some religious, such as Fr Bill Stinson and Bishop Paul Bird, stayed many years while the tenures of others were more fleeting.

So majestic is Majellan House in Brighton it has appeared in Australian Home Beautiful on three separate occasions, including on the front cover twice.

William and Florence Carr faithfully lived in their home they called Kuring-gai next to the Brighton Yacht Club for around 40 years. But after Florence died in 1964, three years after her husband, the estate was sold to the Redemptorists.