By James Parker
One of Perth’s favourite visitor attractions, St Mary’s Cathedral in Victoria Square, the mother church of Perth’s Catholic community, this week Thursday 29 January, celebrated the 150th anniversary of its original opening and consecration.
Archbishop Tim Costelloe SDB, the ninth Catholic Archbishop of Perth, celebrated Mass at 12.10pm on the anniversary, giving thanks to God for the past, present and future life of the cathedral.
In his sermon for the occasion, Archbishop Costelloe reminded those who gather at the Cathedral that they are “called together into a community of faith… to proclaim the goodness of God to all people”.
This, he said, is to be done “in the way we behave which will speak more powerfully of the love of God alive in us than our words, or even than the magnificence of the churches and cathedrals we build”.
The Archbishop shared how the Christian scriptures encourage followers of Christ “not to stay away from the meetings of the community” prompting them to gather regularly as one around the altar.
“For 150 years, faithful Catholics have been making the journey to this hill on the outskirts of the city,” said Archbishop Costelloe, “to share their faith, to open themselves to God’s word, to be drawn into a deep communion of love with him, and to respond to his call to take what they have received within these walls out into the world of their family, their neighbourhood, their job, their community.”
He stated that it is “this fidelity and faith we are really celebrating today”.
Finally, the Archbishop expressed his gratitude to the early pioneers who courageously built the first cathedral church in Victoria Square.
“How grateful we must be to those who over so many years have continued to build and develop this cathedral. And how grateful we must be to those who are responsible for the magnificent building in which we find ourselves today and which we are so proud to call our Cathedral,” the Archbishop ended.
The opening of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, known today simply as St Mary’s Cathedral, was seen as one of Colonial Perth’s finest new buildings and its opening was a major event that drew large crowds from all denominations.
Today’s cathedral has been through three key stages of development – 1865 to 1930 under the instruction of Fr Martin Griver, who later became the second bishop of Perth; 1930 to 2006 when St Mary’s was re-designed to resemble a Gothic style cathedral; and finally 2006-2009 when the cathedral was completed to accommodate a rising population.
Additions included a new north-western tower and a new west entrance.