The Parish Team

Father Gerry Iverson

Father Gerry came to Greystanes as Parish Priest in April 1995. He was born at Albury into a family of Irish-Catholic background, with two younger brothers and a sister. His early education was with the Sisters of Mercy and the Christian Brothers in Albury. After the normal course of studies at St. Columba’s, Springwood and St. Patrick’s, Manly, he was ordained a priest by Bishop Henschke in Albury on 16 July 1960, for the Diocese of Wagga Wagga.

Apart from two periods of post-graduate studies at Manly (1961-1962) and Chicago (1978-1979), his first twenty-five years of priestly ministry were in the parishes of Junee, Wagga, Griffith and Albury.

He came to Sydney in 1985 to become Rector of the seminary at St. Patrick’s College, Manly. At the end of his six-year term he joined the Diocese of Parramatta, to be appointed the first Pastor of the newly-established House of Prayer for Priests at Kurrajong (1991-1994). Bishop Bede then appointed him in 1995 to succeed the Brothers of St. Gerard Majella as Parish Priest at Greystanes.

Fr Zakaria Gayed

Fr Zakaria was born in Egypt on 23^rd December 1958.  He grew up with six brothers and a sister in a Catholic family who were involved in the Church. He learned much from his father and was led towards the Church by his example and that of his Parish Priest.He went into the seminary after he finished high school, and also worked for a couple of years to help his family. He was was ordained a priest in 29^th April 1988 and came to Australia in 1999 as the chaplain to the Coptic Catholic Community.

Richard Ward

Richard has been an active member of OLQP Parish since the early 1970’s. He is married with three adult children. His involvement in the Parish started not long after they moved into the area. In Fr Darmenia’s time he was a member of the first Parish Council and a founding member of the OLQP Primary P&F. Since that time he has been involved in many ministries in the parish, including Reader, Acolyte, Baptismal Visitation, Guild of the Blessed Sacrament, Pastoral Council and Adult Faith Education.

During his career as a professional electrical engineer he worked in senior management roles in the Australian divisions of international companies. These roles involved him in extensive local and international travel giving him a chance to experience how the Catholic Church works at a local level in other parts of Australia, in Southeast Asia, Japan, Korea, China, Germany, Belgium, The Netherlands, England, Canada and the United States.

In March 2002 he joined the Parish Team as Parish Manager. He hopes to be able to continue to serve the people in the Parish as member of the Parish Team for the foreseeable future.