POLISH priest Fr Dariusz Osinski boarded a cargo ship from Weipa this afternoon to sail around Cape York in the hopes of returning to his parishioners in Cairns’ Northern Beaches parish in time for Christmas.
He thanked God for the chance to be with his flock, who had been badly affected by the flooding.
“This opportunity came and I believe by the grace of God, I can go and be with my parish,” he said.
Weipa falls under Fr Osinski’s pastoral care and although the mining town mostly empties out over Christmas, he travelled there last Friday to celebrate Mass for the workers and locals who were staying there over holidays.
The sky was overcast when he arrived, but the rains started pouring over the weekend and did not stop.
Cairns airport was flooded and his return flight slated for today (Tuesday) was cancelled.
The next flight would not be until December 28.
“I didn’t really panic… because I believe that Weipa is part of my parish and wherever I am, I’m still with my parishioners,” he said.
“I feel at home here and if I have to stay with these people, I will stay with them without hesitation.
“My concern was with the lack of priests that we have in the Diocese of Cairns, a parish like Northern Beaches… the largest parish in the diocese, I didn’t want all the communities to be without priests for Christmas.”
He said his parish needed his spiritual support at this time, too.
Houses and businesses had flooded in the area and many people had been evacuated.
Fr Osinski has ministered in the diocese for the last seven years and said he had never seen “weather so crazy”.
One of his parishioner who works in the ports was able to secure a place for him on the cargo ship leaving Weipa.
He thanked God for the chance to return to be with his flock.
It is a two-day journey.
“The crew is friendly… I was shown where the dining room is, where I can rest, where I can walk and not walk,” he said.
“I am really happy this opportunity was able to come up and I can get home.”
Another area cut off from Cairns is Mossman.
Parish priest Fr Martin Kenny was born in Mossman and lived there all his life and says he has never seen inundation like this.
He said most of the damages came after Cyclone Jasper had passed.
The creek at the back of town broke its banks, he said, and water and mud came pouring through.
“It went right through town but it’s also come through the school and church here,” he said.
“It hasn’t caused structural damage but it’s flooded all the low-lying rooms of the school and the church so we probably won’t be able to have Mass here on Sunday because of it, or for that note, Christmas.”
He said if it had just been water, it would be fine but “it’s covered in mud, so it’s no good”.
Mossman also faced a problem with its water and has been without running water since the cyclone hit.
For now, he says the sun is out and people are busy cleaning up.
Water is receding, he says, and roads are becoming viable again but another downpour would cut them off once more.
Cairns Apostolic Administrator Fr Kerry Crowley said it was heartwarming to learn the first people to reach out to help the diocese was Lismore diocese.
He said considering what they had been through with the floods in 2022, it was incredible that they were so responsive to helping out.
Fr Crowley would be heading into Cairns from his parish in Innisfail tomorrow to assess the situation.
