St Joseph Parishes in NSW
“It is thus fitting […] that, in the same way that [St Joseph] once kept unceasing holy watch over the family of Nazareth, so now does he protect and defend with his heavenly patronage the Church of Christ.”*
The left-most image below is a sketch of Australia’s first Catholic church—St Joseph’s Chapel, Hyde Park—in which services were celebrated by Rev. John Joseph Therry between 1830-1833, while the adjacent cathedral church was under construction.**
*Pope Leo XIII, Quamquam Pluries, encyclical (August 15, 1889): loc. cit., pp. 177-179.
**Eris O’Brien, Life and Letters of Archpriest John Joseph Therry: Founder of the Catholic Church in Australia (Sydney: Angus & Robertson, 1922).