History of St. Joseph Pignatelli Parish, Attadale
The motto of the Jesuits is 'Ad Maiorem Dei Gloriam' which means 'For the greater glory of God'.
On 18th February 1954, Archbishop Prendiville appointed Fr C.P. Finn S.J., a Jesuit priest, as chaplain to Santa Maria College, which was conducted by the Sisters of Mercy. From the College, Fr Finn also said Mass in the new parish of Attadale in the Attadale State School. When the congregation began to increase, tenders were called for the construction of a school -cum-church building, and work began in November 1954. At the beginning of 1955, Fr Finn was succeeded by Fr Leo Flynn, S.J., and the school opened in a temporary hut at Point Walter under the care of the Sisters of Mercy.
On the 27th March 1955, the school building was opened and blessed by Archbishop Prendiville, under the title of St Joseph Pignatelli, an 18th Century Jesuit priest who had been canonised the previous year. On the 18th April the fifty enrolled children moved into the new school building, among them many New Australians from Europe who were accommodated at Point Walter.
The Jesuit Fathers owned a large tract of land in Attadale, bought with the intention of building a boys’ college adjacent to the parish property. However, due to a decline in the number of Jesuit priests in Australia, this proposal was abandoned in 1961, and the land subsequently sold and sub-divided into building blocks. Campion Crescent and Loyola Way attest to the Jesuit presence in the area.
On 9th December 1962, the present church was blessed by Archbishop Prendiville. It was intended to be a temporary church until such time as a permanent building could be erected on a grander scale. It would then become a parish hall. However, as things subsequently turned out, the “temporary” church has now become permanent, and over the years, it has been embellished by the addition of a Lady Chapel and a bell tower (1988), and a spacious atrium (1996).
On the 24th January 1965, four bitumen tennis courts were opened and the St Joseph Pignatelli Tennis Club was formed. In June of that year a house was purchased opposite to the church as a residence tor the parish priest. Fr Flynn left in January, and he was succeeded by Fr Patrick Tracey, S.J. Work began that year on the parish social centre next to the tennis courts, now called the Bourhill Parish Centre to commemorate Crawford Bourhill who did much of the construction work on the centre.
In 1974, with the departure of Fr Tracey, the care of the parish was resumed by the Archdiocese of Perth, and Fr Dan Foley was appointed parish priest by Archbishop L.J. Goody. In April 1979, a new Presbytery was built next to the church, the former house having been sold.
In 1985, Fr Tim Foster was appointed parish priest and he held the position for the next ten years. He was succeeded in April 1995 by Fr Geoff Beyer, a married former Anglican priest. Fr Beyer oversaw the aforementioned addition of the foyer as well as extensions to the church and sacristy including the construction of an office. Fr Beyer retired in 2006 from the parish and full-time ministry.
Archbishop Barry James Hickey appointed Fr Sean Fernandez as parish priest from July 2006 and Fr Sean was formally installed by the auxiliary bishop, the Most Revd Don Sproxton.
The Bourhill Parish Hall was refurbished in 2008 and fitted with evaporative air-conditioning. It was re-opened by Barbara Bourhill and Sinead Smithies; it was blessed by Fr Sean.
© 2007-2010 St Joseph Pignatelli Parish. ABN: 64 936 045 714.