Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Housing and Local Government) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to acknowledge St Patrick’s Catholic parish, Sutherland, for recently reaching its 75-year milestone. Last weekend I attended a special celebratory mass that was held to mark this occasion, along with the member for Hughes. This was also attended by Cardinal George Pell and many members of the Sydney Catholic Archdiocese.

The history of St Patrick’s Church is intrinsically linked to the growth and development of the Sutherland shire. The early pioneers of the church community provided the same level of leadership, foresight and perseverance as the district’s earliest civic leaders.

In 1934, Sutherland became a parish in its own right, having previously been part of the Cronulla-Sutherland parish between 1924 and 1934, with a parish priest visiting the area each month or so from Kogarah. The first parish priest for the new Sutherland parish was Father Thomas Vincent Dunlea. Father Dunlea arrived in Sutherland during the Great Depression and upon his arrival exchanged his white Buick for an old horse, upon which he would travel the parish doing his rounds. He put the leftover funds from selling his car towards supporting families.

Between 1947 and 1958, Father Patrick McManus served as the parish priest in Sutherland. The area had changed much since Father Dunlea had arrived over a decade earlier. The Depression had ended and the local community was experiencing a boom after the end of the Second World War. The population was growing and there were many new homes being built in the Sutherland shire area to house all of the families that desired to live in this wonderful place. There was much demand placed upon church resources during this period. Local Catholic schools were in heavy demand, and there were many building projects developed in Como, Oyster Bay, Miranda, Sylvania and Sutherland. Local volunteers made up a large proportion of the workforce for these projects.

The 1950s saw the development of two schools associated with St Patrick’s, one of which is today led by Michael Blowes as principal of the college. The Presentation Sisters arrived in January 1950 and soon began teaching on the St Patrick’s Church site. In the first year they had 330 pupils enrolled. In 1956, the Christian Brothers also arrived and opened a boys college, initially for 177 students. The year of 1958 saw Father McManus succeeded by Father Funcheon, who came from the parish of Gosford. The year of 1959 witnessed the establishment of the Mary Immaculate College for girls.

In 1972 a new parish priest arrived, Father Laurence Cruickshank, who was an achiever and a man of vision. He is fondly remembered for his extraordinary vision in planning and building the new St Patrick’s Church, which celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2007. In February 2008 Father Bill Wright joined the St Patrick’s congregation as parish priest. On 6 July 2008 the parish was visited by the World Youth Day Cross and Icon on their journey to the World Youth Day celebrations in Sydney.

Last weekend’s mass was a tremendous occasion. It was a mass of thanksgiving and also served as an official occasion to acknowledge the appointment of Father John Knight as the new parish priest for St Patrick’s. I wish Father Knight—Father John—all the best and look forward to working with him in the years ahead.

Churches are not buildings; they are communities. I would like to acknowledge the dedicated effort of all of those in the parish of St Patrick’s who have built such a wonderful and fine church which has provided such great service to our community in the shire.