<\/p>\n
1945 …<\/p>\n<\/div><\/blockquote>\n
The beginnings of Slovaks in Australia are reaching back to the years 1945 \u2013 1950 after Word War II.<\/p>\n
The Slovak migrants (mostly political ) of that time did not bring along any material assets, just their religion and their Slovak language. Religion was \u00a0very important to them. \u00a0\u00a0They considered this as a means of keeping their personal and national identity . It was not easy, \u00a0as at the time there was no Slovak religious leader appointed to Australia, who would have assisted with their\u00a0 settling into the new environment\u00a0\u00a0 that was to be their new home.<\/p>\n
Help came from\u00a0 the Church of St. Francis in Surry Hills, where the parish priest was Mons. J. Freeman (who later\u00a0 became the Cardinal of Sydney)\u00a0 who had an assisting priest from America – Slovak speaking\u00a0 fr. Kusnierik , who\u00a0 when he was able to, \u00a0served\u00a0 mass in their language.<\/p>\n
1950 …<\/p>\n<\/div><\/blockquote>\n
This church became a spiritual centre for Slovak migrants when by the end of 1950 a regular monthly service was secured by a Czech Redemptorist father S. Mika, C.S.S.R, who served mass monthly most\u00a0of \u00a0the year 1951.<\/p>\n
In the meantime steps were taken by the newly founded Association of Australian Slovaks (1950) to secure the service of a Slovak priest on a more stable basis. It was prompted b y the fact that the majority of its members were Catholics and the presence of a Catholic priest would result in satisfaction of their spiritual needs. They approached Cardinal Gilroy \u2013 then Archbishop of Sydney for assignment of a Slovak priest for the Slovak faithful in the archdiocese.<\/p>\n
The Cardinal was \u00a0sympathetic\u00a0 to the petition. \u00a0As result\u00a0 –\u00a0 a Jesuit priest was appointed in Rome to serve the Slovaks in Australia as their chaplain.<\/p>\n
The Community hired a small Jesuit church of St. Francis Xavier in Lavender Bay (North Sydney). This little church and adjoining school hall became a favourite centre of Sydney Slovaks. Every Saturday night young people gathered for choir practice, dances and games \u00a0in relatively unfavourable conditions (dispersion), they organised their cultural – national life. In this connection we also ought to\u00a0 mention numerous groups of young\u00a0 men and girls in Slovak national costumes, who partici-pated in the procession during the National Eucharistic Congress in Sydney.<\/p>\n
All of this was organised by their priest fr. S. Sencik. He relied mostly on the members of the Australian Slovaks Association . His motto was – \u00a0\u201c We must keep everything\u00a0 good \u00a0our Country of birth gave us\u00a0 and\u00a0 accept\u00a0 everything that is good in this country .\u201d<\/p>\n
He was responsible for social work in that organisation and worked as the editor of the monthly \u201cSlovak Shield\u201d. He only stayed 2 years in Sydney before he was sent on to Melbourne (again for 2 years).\u00a0\u00a0 During his stay in Melbourne he only seldom visited Sydney.\u00a0 He left Australia\u00a0 in autumn\u00a0 1957.<\/p>\n
Towards the end of 1956 a Salesian father Tibor Strnisko arrived to take on his priestly duties for the small flock of Slovak migrants dispersed over the Australian continent. For the next \u00a013 years he was the only Slovak Catholic priest on this continent.\u00a0 He was continuously on the move.<\/p>\n
His field of activities was reduced after arrival of the 1968 post August \u00a0immigrants (invasion by the armies of Warsaw Pact) to Melbourne only.<\/p>\n
1970 …<\/p>\n<\/div><\/blockquote>\n
For the growing numbers of new immigrants Divine Word Missionaries in Rome, \u00a0appointed\u00a0 fr. Jan Krasnansky, S VD. \u00a0To Sydney. \u00a0When this \u00a0missionary arrived in the last days of 1970, he met\u00a0 three \u00a0generations\u00a0 of Slovak immigrants\u00a0 (1929, 1945, 1968).<\/p>\n
Not long after his arrival he founded\u00a0 a new organisation\u00a0 \u201cFraternity of Cyril & Methodius\u201d (1972) \u00a0and began \u00a0publishing a newsletter called \u201cVoice of \u00a0Australia\u201d .<\/p>\n
The idea to obtain or build a centre for Slovak religious and cultural presentation in Sydney took form during his tenure. Unfortunately he was not able to bring this to realisation as he did not have the financial support or enough time as his tenure ended in 1975. His organisation has ceased to exist, funds collected were returned to the donors.<\/p>\n
Another missionary\u00a0 fr. Emil Cernaj SVD\u00a0 arrived in the same year,\u00a0 appointed by the General Superior\u00a0 of Divine Word Missionaries and he, the same as his predecessor, \u00a0realised that renting churches that were owned by other nationalities did not assist the unification of the Slovak community . He took it on\u00a0 as his personal mandate to be the instrumental factor in \u00a0procuring \u00a0a religious and cultural centre for the Slovaks in Sydney. To undertake such goal after the failure of fr. Krasnansky SVD and with the same people was very courageous. He had to start from square one, since previous financial donations were no longer available for this plan.<\/p>\n
1980 …<\/p>\n<\/div><\/blockquote>\n\n\t\t