First Catholic Church In Australia Analysis

The Australian Scene

The Catholic Church began in Australia on 26 January 1788, when the first Catholics arrived in Sydney Harbor with the first fleet. The first Catholics were neither priests, neither brothers nor nuns, in fact, they were no regular priests here for the first 38 years of European settlement. The first Catholics- English, Scottish and Irish- were lay people. From the beginning the Catholics were poor. They were migrants, usually uneducated and most were convicts. From the beginning in Australia the governors thought religion as a good idea because they thought that it would make people behave themselves.

The fact that many of the first Catholics in Australia were of Irish origin has had much to do with the kind of Catholic
Born in England in 1808 Caroline migrated to Australia after marrying Catholic army officer Archibald Chisholm in 1830 at just 22 who together had 9 children. Caroline first started her tireless work by creating a small school educating the daughters of soldiers, Caroline continued her work by helping female migrants who were being exploited and formed a ladies committee. She was eventually allowed a building by the governor, however it was filthy and riddled with rats. Never-the-less Caroline established a home for female immigrants and an employment office, which provided over 1000 jobs. She also improved the treatment of immigrants on the ships, which were usually cramped, filthy and boring through only paying the ships for migrants that were left in good condition. As well as introducing the family reunion scheme for migrant families, reuniting hundreds. Caroline set up countless new settlement towns in the bush for migrants, educating them on how to live on the land and even creating cookbooks for them. Caroline had also convinced the government to build shelters during the time of the gold rush to travelling families, which are known as Chisholm’s shakedowns. Caroline Chisholm spent her final years bed ridden in England, dying in 1877 at age 63 in poverty. Australia recognized Caroline as one of our greatest women, and became the first
Roles that were once restricted to priests and Catholics - in education, health care and many other fields – are now filled by lay people and non-Catholics. These changes in the Catholic Church is seen documented in the TV series ‘Brides of Christ’, were the church is portrayed as old and out-dated, before it changes with the times, introducing new nun’s habits, having a lay teacher and many more. Yet the changes that have taken place have been primarily been changes in rules and practices, with teachings re-interpreted but at large have not been changed. Culture saw the downfall of the church with no one quiet expecting the impact of the flower power and sexual revolution. The invention of the car and television also saw a radical decline in church numbers. The Church’s hold on modern society seems to be weakening, opposed to its once strong teachings, with modern spirituality is expressed openly through an array of religions in the 21st