By Anthony Barich
Against a backdrop of a Catholic-Protestant divide characteristic of the era, Bunbury’s first Cathedral was a counter-cultural statement according to The Record of 1921.
Consecrated as a church on 27 November 1921 – 33 years before Bunbury was constituted as a diocese – it was seen as a “reminder of the spiritual progress achieved through the wonderful Gospel of Christ”.
In a 3 December 1921 article titled “A Great Achievement: Blessing and Opening of St Patrick’s Church Bunbury”, The Record said the Cathedral would be “positive evidence of the spiritual triumph of Catholicity in the south west and its material progress”; its glory reflecting the “fidelity of the community who raised it”.
The Cathedral is “sufficient answer to those indiscreet and anonymous critics who occasionally fling their brick-bats at Catholics and charge them with being enemies of the State, because it represents in hard cash, the contributions of a by no means wealthy community, the loyalty and fidelity of Catholic citizenship”, The Record reported.
“‘Money talks’ is a much-used sporting phrase, which is well worth remembering by the self-appointed critics of the Catholic Church. The thousands spent in the erection of the stately God’s House dedicated by the Archbishop at Bunbury last Sunday, under the patronage of St Patrick, the patron Saint of the Irish race, to the worship of the Almighty, should give a good solar-plexus blow to any local antagonism that might be prevalent in the neigbourhood against Catholics.
“There is not a little, we understand. It is mostly the outcome of jealousy and pique, and an insufficiency of human wisdom and knowledge.”
The South Western Times of 27 November 1921 reported that Deacon Smyth, in introducing Archbishop Clune, said that “time and again (the prelate) was subjected to the bitterest, most hostile, and most criminal criticism ever levelled against a human being”.
The Times said Deacon Smyth mentioned that not “by way of complaint, but only to emphasise the steadfast purpose of the people who stood by him in the dread vicissitudes of war and peace and to assure them of his warmest affection and appreciation”.
The Record said that “we have no doubt” that St Patrick’s Church and other Catholic churches in the area that bear Saints’ names “will in time convert the malcontents to a better understanding of the virtues of the Catholic Church and its great Christian Charity. It is a giant among the churches of other denominations, easily the most striking landmark for miles and miles around.” The Record also noted that it would “in the providence of God one day be raised to the dignity of an Episcopal Church” – a Cathedral that is the Bishop’s chair from which he teaches, governs and sanctifies.
Every portion of the vast district was represented at the Cathedral opening, with people attending from Waterloo, Dardanup, Ferguson, Brunswick and Australind, according to The Record.
Archdeacon Smyth and Father Dunne of the Cathedral staff were busy in the confessionals “up to a late hour” on the night of the opening, The Record reported.
A large number of candidates for Confirmation were among the communicants. The first Mass was an “inspiring example of Catholic Faith in the Real Presence and assuredly consoling to his Grace (Archbishop Clune) and Archdeacon Smyth,” the paper reported, while the opening was an evangelising event.
Prior to the official opening, a strong representation of the Children of Mary and members of the Sacred Heart Sodality joined in the procession around the church.
The South Western Times reported that week that over 1,200 people attended, and that the procession lasted for an hour where the Archbishop was followed by 20 altar boys and sacred ministers.
The newspaper also reported that Catholics had spent nearly 20,000 pounds in buying land, clearing, levelling and building upon it.
They still owed some 5,000 pounds the day it was opened, the paper said. At the opening Mass, Archbishop Clune also answered critics of the Church concerned the project was a waste of money that would have been better spent on the poor.
He said Mary Magdalene’s “loving act” for Christ anointing His feet with expensive ointment drew “reproachful words from the false disciple” who said the money could also have been spent on the poor.
He paralleled this with the criticism and reproach given to Catholics for honouring God in the Blessed Sacrament “by building beautiful churches in which He would dwell in the Tabernacle on the altar”.
“The Cathedrals and churches which studded every land stand as monuments to the faith and love of the people and their belief in His Sacramental Presence on the altar,” he said.
“People who contribute to church buildings are never forgetful of the poor. The building of their great church was the transformation of faith into material form. “The motive of (Catholics throughout the ages) building their great temples did not rise from vain display” but the “vivid zeal of priests and people, and all that is meant by the great First Commandment of Our Lord, that that which is richest and most beautiful alone is worthy of the service of God.”
The South Western Times reported on 27 November 1921 that the church was of “magnificent proportions”, 110 feet long and 52 feet wide, and was of a Gothic design, overlooking both the town and the harbour and “could not have been more advantageously placed”.
The main building was set off by a “handsome and massive “square tower at the south-east corner, close to the main entrance.
“Entering the building, one is struck by the symmetry, strength and simplicity of the construction work,” the paper said. The height of the nave from floor to ceiling was 45 feet, the ceiling polished Jarrah, as were the altar rails. The nave was supported on 14 columns of reinforced cement, strengthened by a steel stanchion 16 feet long in the centre. There were two subsidiary aisles extending the full length of the church.
The altar was 25 feet high and modelled on that of St Peter’s in Rome. Everything in the “sacred edifice” (altar) except the silver, gold and brass, was designed and made in Bunbury.
Later that afternoon, the Archbishop confirmed a “large number” of youth.
The candidates recited the Lord’s Prayer, the Hail Mary and the Apostles’ Creed and “the usual promise to abstain from intoxicating liquors until the age of 21 was made”.
Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament followed and, at its conclusion, the congregation rose and sang Faith of our Fathers. “So ended a most interesting day’s history in the life of Bunbury,” The Record concluded its report.