Residents in Orange Grove fear their rural lifestyle will be threatened after the Catholic community in Maddington received approval to build a church in the area.
A meeting was held on July 24 with representatives from the church, the City of Gosnells and 15 Orange Grove residents to discuss the approval.
At the meeting the WA State Government Planning Department approved the application to build the church.
Resident Rodney Smith said even though he was Catholic he opposed the development.
“It will open the floodgates to other denominations,” he said.
“There will be extra traffic on Sundays destroying the amenity and uniqueness of the area.”
Mr Smith said in the past residents had stopped the building of a mosque and temple but it had nothing to do with race, religion or ethnicity and it was a threat to the rural surroundings.
“There is a lady who owns donkeys in Orange Grove,” he said.
“Sometimes you can see her with her donkey and cart along the road and it looks like something out of a scene from 1950s Eastern Europe.”
Mr Smith said he did not want Orange Grove to lose its rural uniqueness.
Holy Family Catholic Church Maddington priest Father Varghese Parackal said the approval to build the church was not a victory over the residents.
“We are not celebrating this,” he said.
“We are just grateful to God our prayers are being answered.”
He said while the meeting was going on people were praying in church.
“The planning department would not have approved the building of the church if they saw anything wrong with it,” he said.
“The site is not in the heart of Orange Grove and it will not disturb anyone or ruin the rural lifestyle.”
He said the church would add beauty to the area.
