Arrival of the Jesuits on the North Side
The history of St Francis Xavier Church is closely linked with the arrival of the Jesuits at St Mary’s North Sydney. In 1878, Archbishop Vaughan invited the Jesuits from Melbourne to take charge of the North Shore Parish. Founded in 1856, it extended along the coast from North Head to Palm Beach and was bounded in the north by the Hawkesbury River and in the west by Berowra Creek with a line drawn to the Lane Cove River. The harbour formed the southern boundary.
St Francis Xavier Church at Lavender Bay was the fifth of the North Shore parish churches. Apart from the mother church at St Mary’s, the others were at Pymble 1857 (called Lane Cove), Manly Beach 1868, Pittwater 1875 and Milson’s Point 1880 (Star of the Sea).
The first two Jesuits to arrive from Melbourne were Fathers Joseph Dalton and James Kennedy.
Buying the Land
In July 1878, Father Dalton purchased from the Hon. Francis Lord approximately three acres of land lying north of the newly formed Mackenzie Street and bounded by Blue, Walker and Miller Streets, at a cost of ₤3000. The plan was to erect a school, a church, and, in time, a presbytery, but the first would be a school which could be also used as a church.
The need for a place of worship was lessened when in 1880 the Jesuit Fathers purchased a small stone church at Milsons Point. The church had been built 17 years earlier as a Congregational Church. This became the original Star of the Sea Church which served that section of the parish until the new Star of the Sea Church was finished a quarter of a mile away in 1970.
Opening Day
The foundation stone of the school which was to become St Francis Xavier Church, was laid in March, 1879. The design of architect Wardell was followed by Mr John Young in building the school-church. Locally quarried stone was used.
Archbishop Vaughan administered Confirmation on 23 January 1881 at St Mary’s North Sydney, then travelled down the hill preceded by two bands, the Parish Guilds, children and parishioners, to open the completed building.
The building, seventy feet long and thirty feet wide, contained four classrooms. There was a verandah on each side, one terminating in the front end of the porch and the other in a tower with a porch underneath. The tower was finished by a bell column and a lead spire reaching roughly one hundred feet high.
In 1901 it was decided to erect a new school in the grounds alongside the original building at a cost of over ₤2000. The foundation stone was blessed by Cardinal Moran on 22 September 1901. St Francis Xavier Church, which had always looked more like a church than a school, could now be a place of worship.
Presbytery
Until 1880, Jesuits serving the Lavender Bay section of the parish lived with the North Sydney Jesuit community. In this year the Jesuits working at Lavender Bay looked around for a residence nearer the church. Fr Gately SJ and Fr Corish SJ were appointed fulltime to the parish. In 1913 "Wangan" was bought and is now the site of the present Parish Centre, 20 Mackenzie Street, Lavender Bay.
Lavender Bay—A Parish
In 1922, Lavender Bay became a parish separate from North Sydney and Fr Richard Murphy SJ, Assistant Priest at North Sydney, came as its first parish priest. A man of wide interest and great achievements, he founded the guild of St Luke for medical practitioners, was co-founder (with Dr S Minogue) of Alcoholics Anonymous in Australia, and author of the book The Catholic Nurse as well as being a popular retreat giver. He was succeeded by Fr Magan SJ, a wartime chaplain long remembered for his hearty laugh and sense of fun. In his time Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto was erected in the Church grounds as a memorial to Fr O’Dempsey SJ who, in the inscription there, is incorrectly named as the first Parish Priest.
The church was much narrower than it is now. The central altar was of wood and built well out from the back wall of the sanctuary. Flanking the main altar were two side altars, on one of which was a statue of the Sacred Heart and on the other a statue of Our Blessed Lady.
Fr Stone SJ who was Parish Priest from 1944 to 1948 and again from 1954 to 1959, had a plan to build a new church of St Francis Xavier on the higher level facing Miller Street and for this reason the small duplex of flats and four cottages on the corner of Miller and Mackenzie Streets were purchased. These had been built on land originally bought by the Jesuits who later sold them.
A Period of Expansion
Fr Kevin Staunton SJ was Parish Priest for eight years from 1962, and during these years extensive changes were made.
Instead of building a new church at Lavender Bay, he enlarged the existing one. The north wall was removed and the church extended towards the station to double its original size. The new north wall was constructed of about one thousand feet of glass (beautifully coloured "Loire" slabs) set in concrete. It was the work of Stephen Moor and was put together on the site.
The renovations were completed in 1964. Father Staunton had the painted Stations of the Cross stripped during his period, revealing exquisite wood-cuts which had been carved in the 1860’s by Josef Dettlinger of Friburg-in-Breisagau, Germany. They remain today.
The money for the extensive parish projects at this time was made possible not only through sacrificial giving of the parishioners, but also by the sale of that section of the presbytery grounds bounded by Walker and Mackenzie Streets. This later became the Ampol car park and is now the site of Lavender Terraces.
Star of the Sea Church, Kirribilli was blessed and opened by Cardinal Gilroy on Sunday 21 June 1970.
Father Caulfield-James SJ, young and energetic, arrived in 1970 and during his year at St Francis Xavier Parish helped establish the Sunday evening Folk Mass which is still a distinctive feature of its liturgical life.
In 1990 Star of the Sea Kirribilli became a part of Neutral Bay parish and Lavender Bay became part of North Sydney Parish. The Jesuits returned to St Mary’s Presbytery and 20 Mackenzie Street has become a centre for hospitality, prayer and a home for the Pastoral Associates.