Cathedral

St Christopher’s became the cathedral church of the Archdiocese in relatively recent times. In 1973, on the silver jubilee of the Archdiocese, Archbishop Thomas Cahill consecrated the extended St Christopher's Church building as the Cathedral Church of the Archdiocese. It thus superseded Sts Peter and Paul’s Cathedral, Goulburn, for this purpose.

It is unlikely that any other church in Australia will lay claim to the distinction of having four prime ministers as parishioners, as St Christopher's can claim. They were James Scullin, Joseph Lyons, Frank Forde and Ben Chifley, the last of whom had his own chair discretely placed at the back of the church, so that it became known as “Chif's Chair”.

The story of St Christopher’s Church goes back much further.

As the nation recovered from the Depression, the legendary Fr Patrick Haydon, the first pastor of the Canberra Catholic community, seized the opportunity to build a church for Canberra. He invoked the patronage of St Christopher because he predicted the great numbers of travellers who would come to the national capital would need his protection.

It had become evident that the proposed Cathedral on “Cathedral Hill” near the Civic Centre was not to be soon built. As school enrolments increased, the temporary arrangements in the school hall became a nuisance. In 1936 Father Haydon had been appointed Dean of Canberra. After a trip overseas in 1936 to celebrate his silver jubilee of ordination, he returned ready to launch his dream of St Christopher's Church. However, just as plans were under way, Bishop Barry died on 22 March 1938. So it was that Archbishop Norman Gilroy, of Sydney, was called on to lay the foundation stone on 8 May 1938.

The ceremony was attended by Prime Minister Joseph Lyons and former Prime Minister James Scullin.

After Fr Haydon's untimely death at the age of 59 years on 19 April, 1949, St. Christopher's Parish became a mensal parish, directly linked to the new Archbishop, who provided it with an administrator. The Archdiocese of Canberra and Goulburn was erected on 5 February, 1948 from the former Diocese of Goulburn. Hence St Christopher's Church came to be called a pro-cathedral, though in practice it was still a parish church. On 4 June, 1939, the parish church of St Christopher was opened by Archbishop Panico, the Apostolic Delegate. It was the occasion for an interesting address by the new Prime Minister, Robert Menzies, in which he signalled hopes for a new co-operative spirit within the Christian communities of Australia. The occasion of the foundation stone in 1938 and the opening in 1939 are recorded in elaborate Latin inscriptions on the church facade.

The architect for the Spanish Romanesque style church was Clement Glancy, of Sydney. The builder was Warren McDonald, based in Canberra. The foreman of works was Frank Kestrel. The beautiful cream bricks were supplied by Punchbowl Bricks.

Archbishop McGuire continued to live in Goulburn, coming to Canberra only for special events. His successor, Archbishop Eris O'Brien, took up residence in Canberra in 1955, so St Christopher's became the permanent seat for the Archbishop, and was called a Co-Cathedral, along with St Peter and Paul's Cathedral, Goulburn.

Archbishop Thomas Cahill succeeded Archbishop O'Brien in 1967. In March 1972, the extension of St Christopher's to double its seating capacity and to provide adequate liturgical space and appointments was begun under the direction of Archbishop Cahill, according to plans developed by Clement Glancy, son of the former architect.

The builders were Kennedy and Bird Pty. Ltd, supervised by Frank Watters and with Charles O'Connor as foreman. The extension cost about $300,000. The principal bricklayer was Bill Beaumont, and the bricks were again supplied by Punchbowl Brick­works, matching tone and texture of the original creams with amazing accuracy after 35 years.

The congregation assembled from 3 November, 1972, in the Haydon Centre for Sunday and daily Mass. This service building had been built in 1962 and named in honour of the first parish priest. It contained a hall, meeting rooms and kitchen. The consecration of St Christopher’s Cathedral took place on 5 February, 1973.

 

Notable events it has hosted have included:

• The funeral of Father Haydon 1949, the reception to Cardinal Spellman 1948, Solemn Requiem for the assassinated President Kennedy 1963;
• visits of Archbishops of Canterbury Dr Donald Coggan 1977, and Dr Robert Runcie 1985,
• funerals of Archbishops O'Brien 1975, and Cahill 1978,
• the crowded prayer service against legislative actions on abortion in 1973 which was interrupted by a bomb scare,
• episcopal ordination of a local priest Patrick Power as Auxiliary Bishop of Canberra and Goulburn in 1986,
• the ceremony of Aboriginal witness in 1988 for Australia’s Bicentennial celebrations.
• When the then Archbishop of Cracow, Poland, Karol Wojtyla, celebrated Mass there for the Polish community in Canberra in 1973 no one was to realise he would be the future Pope John Paul II.

In recent years, significant ecumenical ceremonies have included the inauguration of the National Council of Churches of Australia 1994, memorial service to mark the Port Arthur massacre 1996, national remembrance service in 2002 to commemorate the first anniversary of the September 11 terror attacks, and an interfaith service after the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami.

 - adapted from Things Both Old and New 1939-1989, by Fr Brian Maher.