About Us

Welcome to Our Lady of the Rosary parish, The Entrance. Our parish has its'
origins back in the 1860's when Mass was first celebrated at Long Jetty. The area was a popular tourist and camping holiday spot on the southern shores of Tuggerah Lake where the lake and the Pacific Ocean meet.

Today The Entrance and its surroundings is one of the premium holiday spots on the Central Coast and is the home of some 10,000 Catholic families.

Since its inception in 1947 the parish has grown and today boasts one of the most beautiful and prayerful Churches in our Diocese. Substantially designed by Fr Reg Reynolds, the parish church caters for the permanent Catholic population as well as the many visitors who holiday here.

The Parish Centre is a more recent addition which houses a multi purpose
function centre and offices to deal with parish business and the administration of the parish properties. A feature of the parish centre is the unique formed and stained glass shrine of Our Lady of The Entrance, a beautiful image of Our Lady of the Rosary casting her mantle over the dominant geography of our area - the Pacific Ocean and Tuggerah Lake.

The rise in population has seen the need to relocate the Primary School,
which was originally behind the Church. Today, a modern K-6 Catholic Primary School is on a new site on Shelly Beach Road. The old school buildings have been redeveloped as a cultural/education centre to serve  the parish.

Rev Fr Brian Leo Moloney
Parish Priest & Dean of the Central Coast

I was born in 1958 at St George Hospital, the first born of Leo & Beryl Moloney. I have two younger sisters, Pauline & Eileen who are 11 years apart. I have 5 nieces and nephews. In 1995 my parents moved from Hurstville to Charmhaven and my mother died April 2022 and we celebrated her requiem Mass here at The Entrance.  My father is still living at Charmhaven and my sisters live at Bonnet Bay in the Sutherland Shore and at Sunshine on Lake Macquarie.  
I started my education at St Raphael’s School, South Hurstville before taking a choral scholarship to St Marys Cathedral Choir and attending the adjacent school from year 4 to year 12. 
After school I entered firstly St Columba’s Seminary at Springwood before going on to St Patricks seminary at Manly.   I was Ordained a Deacon in December 1982 and was appointed to the parish of St Patricks Blacktown.
On the 20th of August 1983 I was Ordained a Priest for the Archdiocese of Sydney and was appointed as Assistant Priest at Sacred Heart parish Mona Vale for the next 4 years. In 1986 the Diocese of Broken Bay and Parramatta were newly formed, and I became a foundation member of the clergy of Broken Bay.  
During my time as a priest, I have been asked many times to move “for the sake of the mission of the church” and conscious of my promise of “respect and obedience” to my Bishop I have said yes to these requests. 

The following are my list of Appointments in the diocese of Broken Bay:
• Assistant Priest Sacred Heart Mona Vale 1983-1987.
• Assistant Priest St John the Baptist Woy Woy 1987-1989.   
• Parish Priest St John the Baptist Harbord 1989-1990.
• Administrator Corpus Christi Cathedral St Ives 1990-1994.
• Parish Priest Our Lady of Perpetual Help Toukley 1994-2000.
• Parish Priest St Cecilia’s Wyong 2000-2003.
• Foundational Parish Priest St Mary Mackillop Warnervale 2003-2008.
• Parish Priest St Agatha’s Pennant Hills 2008-2013.
• Parish Priest of Lower North Shore 2017-2022  
• Parish Priest Our Lady of the Rosary The Entrance 2022. 
From 2013 to the end of 2015, I was appointed by the Australian Bishops Conference as the National Director of Clergy Life and Ministry. This was a role supporting the life and wellbeing of the clergy throughout our nation. This was a very enriching experience.   

Music has always played an important part of my life from the 9 years I spent in the St Marys Cathedral Choir to my time as a member of the Sydney Philharmonia Chorus.  Another interest for me is trains and I possess a N Gauge model train set. 
For the last 9 years I have had a unit at Little Beach in Nelson Bay, and I enjoy spending as much time up at Port Stephens as possible. I have never been very sporting but I am enjoying most mornings going for a walk in the parish either by the Lake or by the ocean. 

Deacon Paul Simmons

I grew up in Balmain, the youngest of five children, in a family of strong Catholic faith.                                  I was educated by the Good Samaritan Sisters up to year 2 and then the Christian Brothers Balmain from years 3 to 6. I then attended Christian Brothers Lewisham for high school.
In 1966 I was conscripted into the Australian Army, for a period of two years, and was posted to Vietnam in 1967, where I served with the Royal Australian Engineers. 
My wife Susan and I were married in January 1970 and celebrated our 52nd wedding anniversary this year. We have two children and eight grandchildren.
I have always been actively involved in parish life in whatever parish I have lived in. I have been a member of the St Vincent De Paul Society, as well as a member of Parish Pastoral Councils, Finance Committees, Sacramental Preparation Programs and RCIA Coordinator.
We moved to the Central Coast in 1980 and lived in the parish of Wyong, where once again, I was actively involved in the life of the parish.
In 1984 the then Parish Priest asked me to undergo training as an Acolyte. Following that training, I was instituted as an Acolyte by Bishop Patrick Murphy, in St Patrick’s Church at East Gosford, on 2nd May 1984.  
After a few years of ministering as an Acolyte, both at the Altar and taking Holy Communion to the sick and housebound,  I felt, however, I was being called by God to do something more, but I was unsure of what that ‘something’ was. I kept pushing this thought away, but it kept coming back, and each time it came back it became stronger and stronger. Eventually after about ten years, and a lot of prayerful discernment, I eventually plucked up the courage to write to the Bishop and following discussion with him I commenced my Theological Studies at the Catholic Institute of Sydney in 1998. I completed my studies in June 2001 and awarded the Degree of Bachelor of Theology in April 2002.  
In 2000, I was accepted into the first group of aspirants for the Permanent Diaconate, in the Diocese of Broken Bay, and following four years of formation, I was ordained by Bishop David Walker, on the 16th April 2004, in Corpus Christi Cathedral St Ives.    
My first parish appointment was to Our Lady of the Rosary Parish Wyoming, where I ministered for nine years  (2004-2013), followed by Kincumber (2013-2017) Toukley/Lake Munmorah (2017-2020) and The Entrance 2020.
In addition to my parish appointments I was also appointed, in 2007, by the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference as the National Coordinator of the Permanent Diaconate. I served in this role, for a period of six years. (2007-2013) This appointment involved visiting many Dioceses right across Australia, in promoting and assisting with the implementation of the Permanent Diaconate.  This was a very enriching time in my diaconal ministry and one of the highlights was when I asked by   Bishop Eugene Hurley, Bishop of Darwin, to lead a retreat for the Indigenous Deacons in the Northern Territory.   

More about our History

The first Holy Mass celebrated at The Entrance was in the 1860’s at the home of Mr George Taylor who lived at Long Jetty. The priests travelled from Gosford until 1914 when Wyong became a parish, which included The Entrance and the whole of the Lake Macquarie area.

The foundation stone for the first church at The Entrance was laid by Archbishop Kelly on 4 October 1925 and the church was opened Christmas Day 1925. During 1935 to 1937, under the leadership of Father O’Flaherty, the church was remodelled and doubled in length.

In July 1947 The Entrance became a parish in its own right. The first Parish Priest was Father Patrick Brennan who served the parish until September 1953 when Father Reg Reynolds who served the parish until his retirement in January 1980 succeeded him. Both these men, were far more than excellent administrators, both were truly Priestly men, gifted in many ways. They each showed great foresight. 

Father Brennan set up the first presbytery and a convent for the Sisters of St Joseph whom he invited to start the first Catholic School here in 1952. Father Reynolds completed his work and built additional classrooms and a library and a new school on the Shelly Beach site. The Sisters of St Joseph laboured for forty very fruitful years in our parish school and in the parish generally, a contribution for which the parish is most grateful.
Father Reynolds also directed the building of a new presbytery, the Catholic Carnival Hall, Reynolds Court Retirement Village and the present beautiful church in which we worship today. This church was blessed and opened in December 1962 by Archbishop James Carroll. Father Reynolds, together with our parish members, was also responsible for the development of Catholic high school education on the Central Coast. 

Father Robert Brogan came here in 1979 and made further additions to the Primary School at Shelly Beach and was responsible for coordinating the financing and building of the Mater Dei and Corpus Christi Colleges (now St Peter’s) at Tuggerah.

Archbishop Michael Kelly (1850 - 1940)

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Born at Waterford, Ireland.
Educated at Christian Brothers’, Enniscorthy and the Classical Academy, New Ross.
Seminary formation at St Peter’s College, Wexford and the Irish College, Rome. 
Ordained in 1872 by Bishop Thomas Furlong at Enniscorthy.
He served on the staff of the House of Missions, Wexford and was Rector of the Irish College, Rome.
Elected Archbishop of Achrida In Partibus Infidelium and coadjutor cum jure successionis of Sydney on 20 July 1901, Consecrated Coadjutor Archbishop on 15 August 1901 at St Joachim’s Church, Rome, by Cardinal Francesco Satolli. 
He succeeded to the See on 16 August 1911 on the death of Cardinal Moran. He was named Bishop Assistant at the Papal Throne and Count of the Holy Roman Empire on 25 June 1926.

Archbishop James Carroll (1908-1995)

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Born in Newtown, Sydney.
Educated at Christian Brothers' College, Lewisham, and attended Seminary at Springwood; Manly; Irish College, Rome. 
Ordained in 1931, Rome by Archbishop Joseph Palica, V.G. and incardinated in the Archdiocese of Sydney. 
Elected as Bishop 1954 as Titular Bishop of Athenia, Auxiliary Bishop of Sydney. He was consecrated (ordained as Bishop) 1954 in St Mary's Cathedral, Sydney by Cardinal N.T. Gilroy (Consecrating Bishop) of the Archdiocese of Sydney.
He was subsequently translated (moved) as Titular Archbishop of Amasea, Auxiliary Archbishop of Sydney - 15 Oct 1965. He retired on 23 Jul 1984, to Holy Cross Presbytery, Woollahra. 
During his lifetime, he was Assistant Priest, Darlinghurst, Chatswood; Seminary Staff, Springwood & Manly; Parish Priest of Enmore, Woollahra.
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