Parish
History
Our First Church
The Lane Cove region was initially part of the Jesuit parish of St. Mary’s at North Sydney with the nearest church being the chapel at Riverview College. It wasn’t until 24 August 1919 that the eighty year old structure now known as the Dorritt St Hall was dedicated as the Church of St. Michael, Longueville. It had been built for £850 (2011 = $60,000 ) on land on the corner of Dorritt and Little Streets which had been purchased by Fr. Michael Sherin for £350 (2011 = $24,000).
The dedication to St. Michael stemmed from the coincidence of the names of Fr. Michael Sherin, the builder Michael Breen and, of course, the then Archbishop Michael Kelly, who made the final decision!
There was mention in the Catholic Press of 28 August 1919 that Fr. Sherin had secured an elevated site on the main road close to the Longueville tram terminus and that, as houses were being erected on all sides, St. Michael’s would soon be in the middle of a flourishing suburb. By 1924, the population of Lane Cove had doubled and the church was at capacity.
Synonymous with St Michael’s Lane Cove is the name of the first priest of the new parish, Fr. Hugh McGuire who held office for 55 years from 1922 until his death in 1977. Also, in 1922, the Jesuit fathers of Riverview began their long and continuing association with the parish and commenced conducting an extra Sunday mass at 7:30 am.
Our Second Church
The second church, which opened on 26 September 1926 at a cost of £6,650 (2011 = $470,000), was described in the Catholic Press on 26 September 1926 as “handsomely designed in Byzantine style standing on a commanding site with views of a great portion of the northern suburbs and with seating for a congregation of 650”, allowing the old church to meet the needs of the growing district as a school.
The land next door had been purchased for £1,550 (2011 = $110,000) and the present presbytery, built at a cost of £3,400 (2011 = $243,000) was opened by Cardinal Gilroy on 31 August 1941. It was subsequently refurbished by Fr. Martin Maunsell in 2002 locating the parish office on the ground floor and the priest’s residence above.
Curiously, the foundation stones for both churches recorded St Michael’s Longueville until 13 July 1930 when a sudden change to Lane Cove appeared in a carefully kept Cash Book dating from 1922.
The Present Church
In the Parish Notices in 1975, Fr. John Dougherty advised parishioners that the church built in 1926 to seat 400 was no longer adequate and that the weatherboard sacristy and sanctuary, never properly finished, was now decrepit. Cardinal Freeman, with the advocacy of Bishop Muldoon, approved the proposal to demolish the existing church and replace it with a new 600 seat church to cater for an estimated population in the district of 8,000 Catholics.
So, after the last service in the old church at 10:00am on Sunday 4 January 1976, a large crowd joined a procession of the Blessed Sacrament to the Dorritt Street hall, which was to once more serve as the Parish Church during construction. Masses were also conducted at the Lane Cove Town Hall.
Opened in 1976 by Cardinal Freeman, the new church was constructed by F. C. Zadro at a cost of $324,898 (2011 = $1.8M), not including furniture, fittings and landscaping.
