A Family for All: Life-Stories from the Culburra Beach Family Group

We are our memories and our stories. The stories in this book aim to capture and to recognise the diversity of the life experiences of the members of the Culburra Beach Family Group in New South Wales, Australia. The Passionist Family Group Movement was founded in 1972 in Terrey Hills, Sydney, by Fr Peter McGrath cp, a member of the Catholic religious congregation of Passionists. In a time of arguably increasing personal isolation amidst all our communication technologies, family groups aim to build community through the development of extended families. All are welcome, irrespective of age, marital status, or any other social category. The majority of the members of this group, most of whom are now aged between the mid-seventies and the early nineties, have come to the Culburra Beach area from other parts of Australia, a few initially from other countries. The individuality of their stories but the commonality of their caring for one another well fit the fruitcake metaphor sometimes used to summarise family groups—unity in diversity. This book has been written primarily for these people and their families, partly as a history and partly as an aid to getting to know one another even better. It may also serve as a stimulus for people in other groups to write their stories and even generate an interest in family groups in people who do not belong to a supporting group of some kind.