Matt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On 12 August 1917 Sydney's Catholic Archbishop Michael Kelly laid a foundation stone for a new church on a block of land on the top of the hill at Arden Street, overlooking what was then called Little Coogee, now known as Clovelly. Yesterday I was pleased to join hundreds of local parishioners and students with the current Archbishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of Sydney, the Most Reverend Anthony Fisher, to celebrate the Centenary of the St Anthony of Padua church and parish in Clovelly. The area now known as Clovelly was originally part of the Franciscan district administered from Waverley, where the Franciscan community was established from Ireland in 1879. The church, after the foundation stone was laid, was quickly up and running, so it is appropriate that the parish is named after a Franciscan saint who was one of the most quickly canonised saints in recent church history. Shortly after the church was established the Josephite sisters established St Anthony's school next door and began teaching, in January 1918.

Yesterday clerical, civic, community and school leaders and parents and students came together to celebrate mass and launch a new era for the church. I congratulate the parish priest, Father Pawel Kopczynski, Kim White and staff from the school, and the organising committee—David Cunningham from the P&F, Richard Haddock and Airlie McHatton. (Time expired)