Father Rick is a real down to earth man, with a great love for the church and the people in his community …

Fr Rick McCann from the Wollongong diocese has come up with a new way for people to pray while earning his parish money to build a new church – playing cards.

Oaks-Oakdale parish priest Fr Rick McCann said people could pray their own personal prayer in a special way through the game of patience (solitaire) and his deck of holy cards.

The holy cards come with instructions on how to use them to pray and on completion it is the equivalent of the Rosary.
Fr McCann said he hoped the idea would take Off Worldwide and all the money he earned would go towards building the new church.

He said the parish’s old heritage-listed church was too small to accommodate the influx of parishioners who had moved into the area.

Fr McCann said the card deck included “the king the Good Shepherd, our Lord, the queen has Our Lady and the Jack’s got the Holy Spirit reigning down his graces”.