About Our Parish
Welcome to Hawthorn Catholic Parish
Hawthorn Catholic Parish, under the care of the Jesuits, is a vibrant, welcoming and faith-filled presence in Hawthorn with a history dating back to the 1860’s. Our two churches are Immaculate Conception (ICC) on Burwood Road and St. Joseph’s on Denham St, where we warmly welcome existing parishioners, new parishioners and visitors.
The Parish Vision is to strive to be a Christian Community focused on Jesus, helping all through worship celebrate God’s presence and action and expressing our faith through outreach, service and justice.
​Our Parish Priest Fr Des Dwyer SJ is assisted by Fr Peter L’Estrange SJ and Fr Paul Horan SJ. Our administrative and outreach staff operate from the parish office (Bernadette Kirwan – Parish Pastoral Manager, Chris Ralph – Parish Business Manager). See Contact Us.
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​Parish Groups
We have a number of community focused groups operating in the parish, in addition to a thriving liturgical life, and we always highly value participation by our parishioners.
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Outreach – Manresa Care, St Vincent de Paul Society (Hawthorn Conference) and other volunteer outreach ministries.
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Young people are involved in the parish in many ways – see Youth.
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Participation is welcomed from parishioners in Social groups, Maytime Fair committee, Sacramental and Liturgical involvement, ‘behind the scenes‘ and Leadership roles.
Sacraments
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Weddings, Funerals and other Sacraments (Baptism, First Reconciliation, First Eucharist and Confirmation) are held at Immaculate Conception Church.
Resurrection Wall
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The Resurrection Wall in our front garden is available to those who might like to fix a plaque there to commemorate a family member or friend who has died. Contact the Parish Office for more information
Our History
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Explore our history via the online exhibition "Our Parish 1869 to 2019"
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