Nepean Group Inauguration 12 May 2026

The brothers of the Nepean Group celebrated their inauguration at the Gaels Club in Kingswood on 12th May 2026.  Bro. Geoff Young, Director of Province 21 chaired the inauguration, assisted by immediate Past Provincial President Malcolm  McEwen, who was substituting for Provincial President, Ken Daniels, who was an apology for the evening.  Also assisting were Provincial Membership Officer Graham Short and Provincial Secretary John Tweedie.  In attendance was Brother Ken Halliday, President of Pittwater Circle. A number of wives were also in attendance.

 Existing Nepean brothers, Chair Bro Michael Tan, (centre) and new brothers enrolled into the Nepean Group

 There were 11 apologies for the inauguration, including 3 apologies from Parish Priests of neighbouring Parishes, messages of goodwill from the Gold Coast Tweed Circle, the City of Sydney Circle and the City of Parramatta Circle in addition to the Northern Rivers Group.

As background, the chairman of the Group, Bro Rev Michael Tan,  is a permanent Deacon of the Diocese of Parramatta.  He is a retired GP,  Past President of Province 21 and current member of the City of Parramatta Circle. Other joint members include  Peter Moriarty, Secretary and Development Officer of the Group, Peter Smith, Dudley Littlewood from the City of Parramatta Circle. 

Also enrolling as a joint member was Rev Alan Skojic, a permanent Deacon of the Parramatta Diocese and a member of the City of Sydney Circle.  It is anticipated that Deacon Alan’s son, Anthony, who is also a member of the City of Sydney Circle, will be enrolled as a joint member at our June meeting. 

The idea of the Nepean Group in Western Sydney has been considered off and on for a number of years.  Western Sydney and the Blue Mountains has expanded and grown in population over this time, with the establishment of new Parishes and the influx of immigrants.  This has meant that the population pool from which Catenian membership can be drawn has also expanded in the Nepean-Blue Mountains area. 

The idea for the Nepean Group started with a recruitment campaign commenced some years ago at the first National Deacons Conference at the MacKillop Centre, Baulkham Hills.  Bro. Michael was the convenor at the Conference, and the Catenians were one of the sponsors for the Conference.  This meant that the Catenians had a stall, generating expressions of interest in knowing who we are.  This led to a stream of prospects attending our meetings and dinners at various venues.  From this beginning, the idea of the Nepean Group was born.  

We met at a few venues locally, including Penrith RSL and the Nepean Rowing Club before finally deciding on the Gaels Club as our permanent venue at the end of 2025.  We then made the decision in February to inaugurate initially as a Group, and then to grow to a Circle from there.