About Our Parish

Welcome to Hawthorn Catholic Parish

Hawthorn Catholic Parish, under the care of the Jesuits, is a welcoming and faith-filled presence in Hawthorn with a history dating back to the 1860’s. Our two churches are Immaculate Conception (ICC) on Burwood Road and St. Joseph’s on Denham St, where we warmly welcome existing parishioners, new parishioners and visitors.

The Parish Vision is to strive to be a Christian Community focused on Jesus, helping all through worship celebrate God’s presence and action and expressing our faith through outreach, service and justice.

​Our Parish Priest Fr Des Dwyer SJ is assisted by Fr Peter L’Estrange SJ and Fr Theo Overberg SJ. Our administrative and outreach staff operate from the parish office (Bernadette Kirwan – Parish Pastoral Manager, Chris Ralph – Parish Business Manager). 

Parish Groups

We have a number of community focused groups operating in the parish, in addition to a thriving liturgical life, and we always highly value participation by our parishioners.

Outreach – Manresa Care, St Vincent de Paul Society (Hawthorn Conference) and other volunteer outreach ministries.

Young people are involved in the parish in many ways.

Participation is welcomed from parishioners in Social groups, Maytime Fair committee, Sacramental and Liturgical involvement, ‘behind the scenes‘ and Leadership roles.

Sacraments

Weddings, Funerals and other Sacraments (Baptism, First Reconciliation, First Eucharist and Confirmation) are held at Immaculate Conception Church.

Resurrection Wall

The Resurrection Wall in our front garden is available to those who might like to fix a plaque there to commemorate a family member or friend who has died. Contact the Parish Office for information

Our History

The first Catholic church was built in Hawthorn in 1853 (as part of the Richmond parish), and our parish has been under the care of the Jesuits since 1865. Immaculate Conception Church was opened in 1869. Read more about our history here...