THE Stephens family began its long and rich association with the St Mary's Parish when they arrived in Warwick from Ireland in 1868, a mere three years after the first Catholic church was built.

They settled in the Swan Creek area and established their farm which has been handed down the generations.

Great-grandsons of the first Stephens settlers, Kev and Bernard were at the 150th anniversary celebrations of the St Mary's of the Assumption Church yesterday.

They were proud to have such a long family tie with the church.

The brothers' parents, Bernard and Edith, were married in the original church in 1925 and proceeded to have five children who were all baptized in the Catholic Church.

Their eldest daughter was the first girl to be baptized in the new church.

Following tradition, both brothers also married in the new church and had their children baptized in the beautiful sandstone building. The devout Catholic parishioner Kev Stephens has not missed many Sunday Masses over the years and said he felt lucky to live in Warwick with such a great church and great parish.

"The congregation is like a big family to me," he said. "I've made so many good lifetime friends through the church."

Mr Stephens has embraced the many changes which have occurred within the church over the years and says they have all been for the better.

"Probably the biggest change has been the transfer from the Latin Mass to the English Mass," he said.

"It was just as well they changed it because no one could understand it."

Another welcome change for Mr Stephens was the abolishment of fasting from midnight the night before receiving Communion.

"As church wasn't till 10am on Sunday and we had been up early milking cows, we had definitely worked up an appetite by the time fasting was over," he said.

"It was also good to see the ban lifted on inter-church marriages and associations." Kev Stephens said he had seen many structural improvements to the church over the years also, including the new roof and front entrance and is looking forward to seeing more improvements in the years to come.