Prior to European Arrival, the lands upon which our parish is built were the lands of the Bunurong People of the Kulin Nation.

The budding Catholic community of the new suburb of Endeavour Hills began worshipping  in the Sub-division Office, which is now Joseph Banks Medical Centre, in 1976. In 1977, the parish community began gathering at Essex park Homestead, now Essex Park Community Care, followed by the blessing of our first church, which was a simple portable building, in 1980.

Finally in 1983, the present church building was completed and blessed by Archbishop Frank Little, with Fr Frank Martin being installed as our first Parish Priest. Anne O'Brien was Pastoral Associate during this time, and was integral in building the early community. 

As our community grew, St Paul Apostle South Primary School (which was built in 1981) was no longer large enough to sustain our young families, and so St Paul Apostle North Primary School was built in 1985. This young and vibrant community became the centre for Catholics in the area with dinner dances, the fate (which drew large crowds each year), weekly bingo (which supported the financial growth of the parish), play groups, and the men’s club among many other activities. 

Sr Ann Halpin PBVM arrived during the tenure of Fr Gerry McKernan who became parish priest in 1987, and both oversaw the continued growth of our pastoral presence in the area through the 90’s.  

In the mid-90’s a house was bought nearby for our priests, which enabled the onsite presbytery to be expanded for further office and meeting space. The Passionists took over the pastoral care of the parish in 1998, with Fr John Pearce CP as the first Passionist Parish Priest, and the Sisters of the Cross and Passion arriving in 2007.

Plans for the refurbishment of the church began in 2005, with extensive work being done to enhance our liturgical life. This was completed 2007, which was immediately followed by World Youth Day Passionist Encounter. Our Parish hosted Passionist Youth from all around the world.

Fr Tim O’Toole CP became parish priest in 2009, and injected his personality into the parish over the following 8 years, with his love of people, parish and community still alive with us today. 

In 2016, we completed a renovation of the Parish Annexe (which was later renamed the Tim O'Toole Annexe) for the use of the various different groups in our parish. In 2017, Fr Kevin Dance CP was appointed as Parish Priest, with Fr Pastor Mumburi CP being appointed as his assistant.

At the end of 2019, we farewelled the Sisters of the Cross and Passion, after nearly 15 years of serving our community. At the same time, we welcomed Fr Brendan Connell CP as our new (and current) parish priest. In 2020, we celebrated 40 years as a parish with a Thanksgiving Mass, followed by our "Parish Exhibition" and Morning Tea.

As with many parishes, 2020-2021 was a difficult period for us, dealing with COVID-19, and the subsequent lockdowns. We transitioned to Live-streamed Masses with a new system installed mid-2020.

During this time, we saw Luke Bulley CP profess his final vows, ordained to the diaconate (both in our church). After his priestly ordination in Brisbane, he joined Fr Brendan as assistant priest in our parish in June 2021.

After the end of lockdown towards the end of 2021, our parish finally started to emerge and has since returned to close to what we were prior to COVID. We are currently promoting a renewal of our ministries, to once again allow our parish ministries to thrive. Please click here to learn more about this process, and what we're doing to renew our pastoral spirit.