Camden, NSW - St Paul's Catholic

History and Architecture:

The Church was established in 1859 when the great Archbishop Polding was still in office as Archbishop of Sydney and the indomitable pioneer priest of the Australian Church, Father John Joseph Therry, who had certainly proclaimed the Word of God in the Camden area, was approaching the end of his days as Parish Priest of Balmain. Early Church records show that by the year 1873 Camden, still a tiny parish judged by present-day standards, could lay claim to a Catholic population of only 192 souls”.

A little earlier in 1845 a church had been built but was soon outgrown. So steps were taken to build a larger church which was commissioned in 1859 and completed later in the same year, just nine months after its foundation stone was laid. That historic church remains today as a chapel primarily for midweek Mass.