-
First Fleet
The first Catholics to arrive in Australia came with the first fleet in 1788. The people on the ship consisted of Irish and English. One-tenth of convicts were catholic, half being born in Ireland. At this time, there were no churches and few priests to encourage religion. The British saw Australia as nobody's land and showed no remorse for the indigenous Australian's who had been on the land for 50,000 years prior. -
Period: to
History of Catholicism in Australia
-
First Mass and Arrival of Convicts
By 1803, a total of 2086 Irish convicts has arrived at Botany Bay. Most of these criminals were catholic. Soon After, catholic convicts Fr James Harold and Fr James Dixon speak the first public mass -
Masses in Sydney
James Dixon, a convict was granted permission to say Mass for the Catholics of Sydney, Liverpool and Parramatta on Sundays. Masses lasted for a year, until Dixon returned to Ireland and mass was no longer legal until Fathers John Joseph Therry and Philip Connolly took his occupation -
First catholic school
The first catholic school in the Australian suburb, Parramatta was built. -
First census of NSW
The first census of NSW found that 69% of the white population were protestant while the remaining 30% were catholic. -
10 catholic schools
By 1833, 10 catholic schools had been built in Australia.The schools relied on goverment assistence to run campaigns and compulsory education. -
First Bishop
John Bede Polding becomes the first i bishop of New Holland and Van Diemen's land -
First bishop of Tasmania
Robert Willson becomes the first catholic bishop of Tasmania -
First bishop of Perth
Bishop Brady is elected as first bishop of Perth -
First bishop of Melbourne
James Goold arrives in Melbourne and is made the first bishop there. -
St Vincent de Paul conference
First Australian conference regarding the St Vincent de Paul's society in Melbourne -
The Sisters of St Joseph
By this time, there were already a few religious orders in Australia. The group "The Sisters of St Joseph" founded by Fr Julian Tenison Woods and Mary Mackillop formed in this year. -
First bishop of Brisbane
James Quinn is elected as the first bishop of Brisbane -
Catholic schools in SA
Bishop Geoghegan introduces Catholic schools in South Australia. -
Bishop of Sydney
Roger Vaughan is appointed bishop of Sydney -
The growth of Catholic schools
The Sisters of St Joseph (also called the Josephites) beganrunning thirty-five different schools in the Adelaide diocese with a total of 815 sisters teaching in schools. The sisters also established smaller parish schools all over Australia, giving children of the bush an edcuation. The religious orders influenced Catholic schools to continue growing for many years to come -
Archbishop of Melborune
Thomas Carr is made the archbishop of Melbourne -
Death of Mary Mackillop
After Mary's excommunication was removed, she suffered from a stroke while she was in New Zealand. Mary died shortly after. After Mary Mackillop's passing, the sisters of St.Joseph continued her kind virtues. -
Archbishop of Brisbane
James Duhig appointed Archbishop of Brisbane. -
Rapid growth of Catholicism
During this Decade, the number of Catholics in Australia grew rapidly. New Parishes were formed, and the number of priests sisters and brothers increased. The attendance of people at mass grew and traditions like reciting the rosary and no meat Fridays were practised. -
Vatican II
The Vatican II was the most important event of the twentieth century in the Catholic church and Australia.The council was held in Rome and the members included the current Pope at the time and bishops from all around the world. The plan of the second Vatican was to "open the windows of the Church' and promote Christian unity and rights to religious freedom. -
Mary Mackillop declared a saint
Mary was declared as Saint Mary of the Cross at a mass held by Pope Benedict XVI in the Vatican of St Peter's Square. Over 50,000 pilgrims gathered at the Vatican, of which about 9,000 were from Australia. -
The Church present time
Compared to the knowledge of Catholicism in the 1950's, there has been a considerable decrease in mass attendance rates, the amount of priests, sisters and brothers have lowered and their average age has increased. Old traditions like the rosary has become less common in households and different forms of prayer taken from a variety of cultures is prominent. Catholics see these changes as a tragedy and something that can not be stopped.The church must adapt to these changes.
