Representative Parish Council

Phil Mann - Parish Council Chair

Phil has been a parishioner of Surrey Hills Wattle Park for over 20 years, attending Mass at Our Lady of Perpetual Succour Church, Wattle Park.

Originally from New Zealand, Phil settled in Australia after living and working in London for 6 years, where he met his wife.  They have three sons, all of whom have left school and are making their own life journeys.  In his spare time, he enjoys walking the dog, skiing, travelling and being with his family.

Phil’s work is in the IT/telecoms space – with experience across a range of industries such as Telecommunications, Financial Services, Gaming, Public Transport and currently Healthcare.  More recently his role has focussed on assisting businesses address technological challenges and transforming their business models.  Read more…

Jane Edge

Jane and her family been part of the Our Lady’s, Wattle Park community since 2012 when Jane and her husband Allan, enrolled their eldest daughter, Grace, in fourth grade at Our Lady’s Primary School, Wattle Park.  Their youngest daughter, Keira, completed Year 6 last year and during that time Jane served on the School Advisory Council for three years including a period as Chair. 

Jane was very drawn to the sense of community at the school and the parish more widely. That’s why Jane is excited about the opportunity to serve our collective parishes as part of the new Parish Pastoral Council. Jane is very aware that the era we are in is one of adapting to change while shaping directions as a Catholic community and the challenge for all of us in responding with heart and relevance.  Read more…

Cathy Jenkins

Cathy commenced her professional life as a teacher and has worked in a variety of environments including education system leadership with the Archdiocese of Melbourne and the Diocese of Sandhurst; as a publisher and editor; and a leader of evangelisation for the Archdiocese of Melbourne. In addition to an active involvement in parish life, Cathy is a member of the Sandhurst Catholic Early Education and Care and the Diocese of Sale Catholic Education Board. She is a Member for the Australian Catholic Church Plenary Council.  Read more…

Aloysius Gomez

Aloysius was brought up in a staunchly Catholic family but along the way there were challenges to his faith. Fortunately, Aloysius then met a wonderful priest who took him on a journey that brought him back into the church.

Aloysius is a migrant to Australia, having lived in Singapore until moving here for work just over 20 years ago. Aloysius had worked for multi-national companies for many years and his final stint was for an international consulting company in a lead role focussing and providing services on leadership issues, which included a considerable amount of time, coaching budding CEO’s and highflyers in the public sector in the Asia Pacific Region.   Read more…

Joyce Ferng

Joyce has been delivering complex and challenging projects across Australia, United Kingdom and Singapore for over 25 years as a Chartered Fellow professional engineer.  She is currently part of the leadership team at a global consulting organisation.  Joyce is an Adjunct Industry Fellow with Swinburne University and an Industry Technical Advisor to Melbourne University.  She is also on the board of directors for PrefabAUS a non-profit hub advocating prefabrication in Australia.

Joyce is a firm believer of contributing back to the industry and community.  She has been volunteering for the past several years with The Smith Family as part of their iTrack mentoring scheme for Year 10‑12 regional students, providing them encouragement and guidance about further studies and career opportunities.  Read more…

David Rush

David has been in the Parish since the family moved into St Helens Road in 1999 and since 2010 when with his wife Sue moved to Aerial at Camberwell Junction.  So handy, just a short walk up to Our Lady of Victories!

Prior to moving to the Parish they were in St Dominics Parish and their children were educated there.  They have very happy memories of the school, parent’s associations and the tennis club.

David is married to Sue and they just passed their 50-year milestone!   They have four children and six grandchildren ranging in age from 16 to 2, so are kept on their toes.  Read more…

Faye Dennis

Faye Dennis is a parishioner of Our Holy Redeemer, Surrey Hills.  Having been involved in all levels of Catholic Primary School education for 45 years plus and now working with Pre Service Teachers at ACU, Faye hopes this experience can support the new Parish Pastoral Council (PPC).

Faye’s hope for the PPC is that it listens intently to the needs of all parishioners and especially gives a voice to those who feel division in the faith community and to the parents of children at our three schools.  Current practicing parishioners must also feel that their voice is heard.  This active listening will mean that our faith community, rooted in a spirit of understanding, love and hope can work together with a strengthened purpose.  Read more…

Frank Peck

Frank has been a parishioner of Our Lady of Good Counsel for over thirty years.  Frank’s wife, Geraldine, taught at the OLGC Primary School for twenty years and two of their children attended the school.

Frank’s forty-year career in the Victorian Education Department encompassed the roles of secondary teacher, high school principal, secondary school inspector and twenty years in senior administrative positions culminating as Deputy Secretary of the Department.

Frank has served on the College Boards of Marcellin College, Genazzano FCJ College and Xavier College, where he was the Chair for six years.  Read more…

John Cunningham

John looks forward to serving the parish community during this wonderful period of consolidation.  John and his wife have four young children and have lived in Melbourne for the past 12 years.  John was educated by the Jesuits in Sydney and studied at the University of NSW before serving in the Army as a Medical Officer.  John currently practices as a spine surgeon and is also advocate for immunisation against childhood diseases.  John has held leadership positions in the past however the Parish Pastoral Council is the first time he has contributed to the Church in a formal manner.  Read more…