Bishop Installation Booklet

Diocese of Parramatta
BRIEF HISTORY OF THE DIOCESE OF PARRAMATTA
The Diocese of Parramatta takes in seven local government divisions:
Baulkham Hills Shire, Blacktown City, the City of the Blue Mountains,
Hawkesbury Shire, the Municipality of Holroyd, Parramatta City
and Penrith City and parts of Wollondilly and Liverpool. This area
encompasses the lands of the Darug people.
Although the Diocese was established in 1986, there was already a
vibrant Catholic life in the area stretching back to the beginning
of European settlement. It was at Old Government House in
Parramatta Park that the 1803 Proclamation requiring all Catholics
to register for the first official Masses in the colony was read. Rev
James Dixon celebrated the second and third official Masses in
Australia in Parramatta and the Hawkesbury respectively in May
1803.
Rev Therry and Rev Power ministered in the region in the 1820s.
An inquest recorded the latter’s death in 1830 as a “visitation of
God”. Windsor and Penrith had Catholic communities in the
1830s, Blackheath was attended from Hartley in 1842, and the
foundation stone for Richmond was laid in 1859.
The first religious profession in Australia took place in St
Patrick’s, Parramatta in 1835 when Sr Xavier took her first
vows in the Sisters of Charity. Now members of more than
50 Religious Congregations live and work in the Diocese.
Mt Victoria
On 19 May 1986, the new Diocese of Parramatta was created with Bishop Bede Heather as the first bishop. He was succeeded
in 1997 by Bishop Kevin Manning who had previously been Bishop of Armidale. Bishop Anthony Fisher OP was appointed the
third Bishop of Parramatta in 2010. He was previously Auxiliary Bishop of Sydney.
In the years following WWII, many people arrived in the Diocese from war-torn Europe and, since then, many others have
come from places of conflict, persecution and economic hardship. Their strong Catholic faith and family values have enriched
the Diocese and made it a truly multicultural faith community.
Katoomba
Richmond
Penrith
Windsor
Rooty Hill
Riverstone
Blacktown
Parramatta
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LITURGICAL RECEPTION & SOLEMN MASS OF INSTALLATION