September marks 150 years since the Parish of Manly Freshwater was formalised
The community of Catholics in Manly has grown significantly throughout the last 150 years, and beyond, with the Parish of Manly Freshwater (parish) soon to celebrate a special milestone. On 13 September, the parish will hold an official Anniversary Mass at the Mary Immaculate Church in Manly, the site where the parish’s first Baptism was held almost to the day, in 1876.
With 1,200 families in attendance at both churches and school, the parish is a vibrant part of the community, and takes in St Paul’s College, Stella Maris College, St Mary’s Primary School and St John the Baptist Primary School. Harbord (now Freshwater) was part of the Manly Parish until 1941 when it was granted independent parish status but was amalgamated again with Manly in 2008.
For parishioner Patty Thomas, her connection to the parish stretches back as long as she can remember. “My family came to the parish in 1924,” she says. “And we’ve been associated with the parish up until today.” Patty took on the job of piecing together the history of the parish, which she started four years ago. The culmination of this task forms her two-volume history book, Living Waves of Faith, which will be out for the anniversary and covers from 1856 to 2026.
“The 150th is about becoming a formal parish in Australia, but we actually started earlier than that, in 1856. A priest called Father Bruno Powell used to ride his horse and swim across The Spit from North Sydney Parish to come down to this little group of Catholics in Manly,” Patty explains. “So, we were the first parish and the mother parish of the whole Northern Beaches. Our boundaries extended from Manly all the way up to Broken Bay, Palm Beach and west to what is now the Roseville Bridge.”
Patty has covered ‘170 years of faith, education and community life,’ documenting the churches, schools, clergy (there were 97 of them) and parishioners who ‘have helped shape the Catholic faith in this area.’
The longest serving Parish priest was Monsignor John McDonald (Father Mac), Patty says, who served from 1919 to 1965, and was responsible for finding land and convincing the Archbishop of Sydney to create the communities of Dee Why, Balgowlah, Manly Vale and Freshwater, which soon had little wooded ‘church schools’ built on them. The buildings were churches on Sundays and schools during the week.
Fr Mac was the longest serving priest of the parish
Current Parish Priest Father Chima Ofor is looking forward to the celebrations, marking the creation of Australia’s 27th parish. “There’s been a long list of traditions that have been really established here in the parish,” Fr Chima says, adding that generations have been baptised, gone to school, got married, and been farewelled at funerals at the parish’s churches.
Paul Pervan is chair of the parish anniversary team and says a 150th Gala Anniversary dinner will be held on 4 September at 6pm at the Manly Pacific Hotel.
The community are invited to attend the official Anniversary Mass at St Mary’s on Sunday 13 September at 10.30am. The Mass will be presided over by the Bishop or a representative of the Diocese of Broken Bay, along with Fr Chima. Mass will be followed by a luncheon where more than 500 people are expected to attend.