Religious


Father John Kelly

Sacred Heart Pymble

Father John Kelly was the first boy from the Marist School to be ordained to the priesthood. He entered the Manly Seminary at 15 and was ordained by Cardinal Moran in 1904. He was assistant priest at several Sydney parishes before becoming Parish Priest at Gosford where he worked for seven years. In 1922 he moved to Pymble Parish (original Parish Church pictured) where he died suddenly in 1930 aged 50.


Archbishop Justin Simonds


(22 May 1890—3 November 1967) was an Australian prelate of the Catholic Church, serving as the 5th Archbishop of Hobart from 1937 to 1942 and as the 4th Archbishop of Melbourne from 1963 to 1967.


Father Francis Fitzpatrick

Sacred Heart Darlinghurst

Was the first Parramatta born person to be ordained to the priesthood. He was educated at Parramatta Marist. He then studied at St Patrick’s College Manly and was ordained in 1914. he began his ministry at Darlinghurst.


Brother Gabriel (Joseph) Harroway


Was born near Endinburgh Scotland in 1867. His family migrated to Australia and he attended the Marist Brothers School in Parramatta. He joined the Marist Brothers in 1881 and took his novitiate in 1887 and began his teaching career. He was also the first of three brothers from his family to join the Marist Brothers.

In 1897 he was appointed director of Kilmore, (Assumption College Northern Victoria) and began the boarding school there in 1901. In 1902 he became the director of the Marist School in Port Adelaide and in 1916 the director of the Bendigo School. Following his retirement from leadership roles he returned to primary teaching in Sydney schools. he died in 1952 aged 84.


Cardinal Edward Clancy

See Wikipedia (born 13 December 1923) He was the seventh Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, Australia, from 1983 to 2001. He was made Cardinal in 1988.

Clancy continued his education, eventually earning his doctorate in theology in 1965. He then started as a teacher and later accepting the position of chaplain at the University of Sydney. He also served as the official spokesperson for the archdiocese at this time and became very well known on that basis.

On 19 January 1974, he was ordained Auxiliary Bishop of Sydney (Blacktown). On 24 November 1978, he was appointed Archbishop of Canberra (and Goulburn). In the little over four years that he was Archbishop of Canberra and Goulburn, Clancy was respected by the people of Canberra Goulburn as a very friendly and approachable archbishop who was also very supportive of his people and his priests. He had a great rapport with young people in the archdiocese.

On 12 February 1983 he was appointed Archbishop of Sydney and on 28 June 1988 he was elevated to cardinal. He also continued his education career throughout this time, becoming the Chancellor of the Australian Catholic University in 1992.

Major work on St Mary’s Cathedral, Sydney took place under his episcopacy. In 1999 a substantial new pipe organ was built by Orgues Létourneau Ltée of Montreal, Québec. In the year 2000 the spires of the cathedral were finally completed.

During his term as archbishop the neo-Gothic diocesan seminary of St Patrick’s at Manly (founded by Cardinal Patrick Moran in 1889) was closed with an international catering school renting the property. A new seminary, the Seminary of the Good Shepherd, has been opened in the inner-western Sydney suburb of Homebush.

On 26 March 2001 Cardinal Clancy’s resignation was accepted by Pope John Paul II, having exceeded the age limit of 75 years, with his retirement from office taking effect on 10 May 2001. During his retirement, Cardinal Clancy wrote Come Back! – an appeal to lapsed Catholics to return to church practice. Also see Prospect Heritage Trust

His Eminence Edward Bede Cardinal Clancy AC, the seventh Archbishop of Sydney passed away peacefully on 3 August 2014 in Sydney. Cardinal Clancy was aged 90 and for the past eight years has been cared for by the Little Sisters of the Poor at Randwick. Cardinal Clancy was the seventh Archbishop of Sydney from 1983 to 2001.


Fr Michael Kelly – Benedictine Abbot General (1963)

Fr Michael Kelly (Leaving Cert 1963) : Ordained as Benedictine Priest 1969/70 (?). Spent many years at Arcadia Monastery (Syd). Was Australian Provincial and was appointed World Provincial based in Rome in 2007.

115th Abbot General of the Sylvestrine Congregation at their recent General Chapter in Italy. Fr Kelly, a monk of St Benedict’s Monastery, Arcadia, in north-west Sydney, will soon move to Rome to take up his duties for a term of six years.
He is the second member of the Arcadia community to be elected Abbot General, the first being Fr Simon Tonini in the 1970’s.The Sylvestrine Congregation is a member of the Benedictine Confederation. It originated as a monastic reform movement in eastern-central Italy in the early 13th century.

Source: CathNews Australian Catholic University


Roy Cooke (1957) – Coordinator for Life Ascending Australia

LIFE ASCENDING AUSTRALIA  (LAA) is a LAY movement for Seniors. My name is Roy Cooke and I am the Coordinator for Life Ascending Australia  I was a member of the Leaving Certificate Class in 1957. The LAA movement was born in France in 1962 and was authorised in 1985 in Rome with the aim of facilitating pastoral action for the retired. This based on the premise that a Christian who reaches the age of retirement should live the message of the Gospel, wherever they are. Through this, retired people bring hope to us and to other men and women of our time.

The movement has been very good to me, and with other learning, it has helped me to come to terms with questions that often led to the feeling of an iron cage squeezing and strangling my heart. An important part of the answer to my questions and to this feeling was the help LAA provided to arrive at a far better understanding of the questions and a heart much more open to my faith and others. I am sure that in matters of our faith and the heart I have learnt much from LAA as we will learn from each other.

The proportion of Senior’s in relation to the rest of the population is growing and LAA will help you to be more comfortable with the friendships and relationships involved. How do we ensure that this period of our life will be fruitful and of use to others? For more information contact: Roy Cooke. May God be with you!


Archbishop Douglas Young SVD (1968)

Born in Brisbane and grew up in Western Sydney. He completed his HSC at the School in 1968 and joined the Divine Word Missionaries. He was ordained as a priest in 1977 and as a bishop in 2000. He was appointed to the diocese of Mount Hagan in Papua New Guinea. He was appointed Archbishop in 2006.

Archbishop Young has worked for more than 35 years (2012) in the PNG highlands and has developed a deep understanding of Melanesian cultures especially in regard to their reconciliation processes. Archbishop Young holds a doctorate in conflict transformation from Macquarie University for which he researched and reflected in the PNG context. He has been Head of PNG Studies at Divine Word University, Madang, and has been involved in conflict transformation training and facilitation in many parts of PNG including Bougainville.


His international experience includes training others in Manila, Rome, Sydney and American Samoa. In a variety of pastoral situations including prison ministry, youth ministry and parish life, Douglas Young has applied the theological principles and practices of conflict transformation and peacebuilding.

The Mount Hagen archdiocese has a Catholic population of 145,000 from a total population of nearly 400,000 people, (2006)

Source: Catholic Hierarchy and Catholic News

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