The parish that began life as a school

One of the first churches in Kwinana began life as a school.

The Kwinana parish was established between 1953 and 1956 to serve Medina, which was then a new town built to accommodate workers for the developing industries along the coastal strip.

In June 1955, Archbishop Redmond Prendiville provided a loan for the purchase of land and the construction of St Vincent’s Catholic Church and School, with the Vincentian Fathers invited to assist.

The building work was carried out by the first parish priest, Father Gerard Harper, with the parishioners, and completed in time for Christmas Mass.

The school opened on February 14, 1956, with 102 students under the care of the Sisters of St Joseph of the Apparition.

The original building consisted of three classrooms separated by timber partitions on rollers.

Each Friday afternoon, the schoolchildren opened the partitions to form the church, before closing them again after Sunday Mass.

A separate church was built in Medina and blessed by Bishop Myles McKeon on December 12, 1968, when Fr Ray McGuire was parish priest.

As the south metropolitan population grew, a new St Vincent’s Catholic School opened in February 2004, followed by a new church on March 7, 2004, dedicated by then-Archbishop Barry Hickey.

Today the parish has more than 700 parishioners and the school has about 400 students.

It celebrated its 70th anniversary in December with the unveiling of new statues of the Virgin Mary and St Vincent.

Perth Archbishop Timothy Costelloe and Kwinana parish priest Fr Thi Lam also blessed and turned the soil at the site of the new parish centre.

Fr Thi said the parish was “truly blessed with many parishioners who generously share their time and talents”, and thanked the Vincentian Fathers, the Sisters of St Joseph of the Apparition, and former parish priests.