Prior to the establishment of the Diocese of Maitland in 1866, the Hunter Region was under the administration of the Archdiocese of Sydney which covered most of Australia. Catholic priests were assigned from Sydney to minister in various areas.
Several priests had made visits to the Hunter. In 1822 it was said Fr Phillip Connolly visited Newcastle on his way to Port Macquarie. Fr John Joseph Therry who arrived in Sydney with Connolly in 1820 made more frequent visits to the area after Connolly was assigned to Hobart Town. Fr Therry’s first visit was recorded in The Australian on 2 November 1827. Fr Therry initiated the building of a chapel on the site of St Joseph’s East Maitland. It was the first Catholic church built north of Sydney. The stone church of St Joseph’s was completed in 1830.
The arrival of Fr James Watkins as resident priest coincided with the establishment of East Maitland as the first parish in 1835. Fr Christopher Dowling arrived later the same year and became the first permanent resident priest.
In 1838 the parish of Newcastle was established. Fr Dowling moved from East Maitland to Newcastle to become the first pastor.
Fr John ‘Dean’ Lynch and Fr Edmund Mahoney arrived in 1838. Mahony took over from Dowling in East Maitland and Lynch became the first resident priest for West Maitland in 1841.
The year 1840 saw the first episcopal visit by Sydney Archbishop Bede Polding. He said Mass and laid foundation stones for the churches at St Michael’s at Wollombi and St John’s at Campbell’s Hill. St John’s church was never built at Campbell’s Hill. The foundation stone was moved to West Maitland where St John the Baptist Church was built. It opened in 1846.
Singleton in 1845 and Taree in 1846 were the next parishes to be established in the Hunter.
Archbishop Polding’s work on defining new Dioceses for Australia resulted in a Papal Brief of 27 May 1847 that announced the creation of not only the Diocese of Maitland but of Perth (the geographical area of Western Australia), Melbourne (the geographical area of Victoria) and Port Victoria (the geographical area of the Northern Territory). The Dioceses of Sydney, Hobart Town, and Adelaide had already been created in 1842.
A diocese only officially becomes a diocese when a Bishop takes possession of it. Even though Charles Henry Davis had been nominated as Bishop for the Diocese of Maitland, he also held the position of Auxiliary Bishop to the Archbishop of Sydney. Davis spent his time in Sydney and died in 1854 before taking possession. The Diocese remained a Titular See.
In 1865 the Most Reverend James Murray was nominated as Bishop of Maitland in1865. Bishop Murray took possession on 1 November 1866 and St John the Baptist Church West Maitland became his Cathedral and the Diocese of Maitland had a Bishop.
From 1866 the Diocese extended to include Port Macquarie, Tamworth, Gunnedah, Walgett and Coonamble. In 1887 the Diocese of Maitland was reduced in size by exclusion of Coonamble, Gunnedah and Tamworth districts.
In 1933, after servicing the diocese for 87 years, St John the Baptist Cathedral became inadequate for the needs of the parish and the diocese. Bishop Edmund Gleeson CSsR, officially announced the Catholic Hall in Maitland would be converted to a Pro-Cathedral suitable as a place of worship. On 26 November 1933 the Catholic Hall was opened as the Pro-Cathedral and St John’s officially closed.
In 1966 Diocesan boundaries were again altered, Kendall parish was added to Lismore Diocese and the parishes of Belmont, Swansea, Toronto, Booragul and Teralba were added from the Archdiocese of Sydney.
The earthquake in 1989 caused damage to the Pro-Cathedral and it was decided to repair and convert it back to its former use as a hall. St John the Baptist would re-open as a Chapel for the Central Maitland area. After its closure in 1933 Bishop Leo Clarke conducted the ceremony of the Dedication of a Church to re-open St John’s to once again be a place of worship for the area.
The 1989 earthquake was also a catalyst to consolidate the Diocesan Administration Offices onto one site. This was achieved by purchasing the Sisters of Mercy Convent and the former Sacred Heart Primary School in Hamilton to create the Cathedral precinct. The Papal Brief dated 14 June 1995 renamed the Diocese of Maitland to the Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle. On 16 July 1995, the Sacred Heart Church in Hamilton became the Sacred Heart Cathedral for the Catholic Diocese of Maitland-Newcastle.
A fitting culmination to the Diocesan Year of Celebration recognising the 150th Anniversary of Bishop Murray claiming St John’s as his cathedral in 1866, saw over 300 of the diocesan community come together on Sunday 6 November 2016 to dedicate the historic St John’s Chapel as a Diocesan Shrine.
