THE SUBURB OF ST IVES LIES BETWEEN THE PACIFIC HIGHWAY AND MONA VALE. IT IS THUS LOCATED IN THE HEART OF SYDNEY'S NORTHERN SUBURBS. PRIOR TO THE SECOND WORLD WAR IT WAS A SEMI-RURAL AREA OF ORCHARDS AND SMALL FARMS. WITH THE RAPID INCREASE IN SYDNEY'S POPULATION IN THE POST WAR YEARS SETTLEMENT MOVED FROM THE HIGHWAY TOWARDS THE COAST AND SO THE AREA AROUND ST IVES GREW RAPIDLY INTO AN ATTRACTIVE RESIDENTIAL SUBURB. TODAY IT IS A POPULAR SUBURB WITH YOUNG MIDDLE CLASS FAMILIES WHO APPRECIATE THE EXTENSIVE COMMERCIAL CENTRE AND THE HIGH QUALITY OF SERVICES WHICH ARE AVAILABLE IN THE DISTRICT.


ST IVES BEGAN LIFE AS AN OUTSTATION OF THE HUGE PYMBLE PARISH AND BY 1953 THE POPULATION HAD GROWN SUFFICIENTLY TO WARRANT A STATION CHURCH AND REGULAR MASSES. JUST FIVE YEARS LATER, FOLLOWING RAPID DEVELOPMENT IN THE AREA, IT WAS RAISED TO PAROCHIAL STATUS AND FOR TWENTY-EIGHT YEARS THE PARISH FAITHFULLY SERVED THE PEOPLE OF ST IVES BEFORE CHANGES TO THE DIOCESAN STRUCTURE BROUGHT IT AN EVEN GREATER HONOUR WHEN IT WAS SELECTED TO BE THE VERY FIRST CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF THE NEWLY ERECTED DIOCESE OF BROKEN BAY. IN FEBRUARY 2008, AFTER TWENTY-ONE YEARS AS THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF BROKEN BAY, ST IVES REVERTED TO ITS SIMPLE PAROCHIAL STATUS WITH THE TRANSFER OF THE BISHOP'S CATHEDRA OVER TO THE PARISH CHURCH OF OUR LADY OF THE HOLY ROSARY IN WAITARA.

THE FIRST CHURCH TO SERVE ST IVES WAS BUILT AS A STATION CHURCH OF PYMBLE IN 1953. IT WAS A SIMPLE HALL CHURCH THAT SERVED AS BOTH A MASS CENTRE AND FOR A FEW YEARS AS A SCHOOL DURING THE WEEK. JUST SPARSELY DECORATED WITH LARGE PLAIN GLASS WINDOWS AND A VERY PLAIN UNADORNED ENTRANCE IT REPRESENTED THE TRENDS TOWARDS A MORE MODERN DESIGN STYLE IN CHURCH ARCHITECTURE IN THE YEARS FOLLOWING WORLD WAR II. FROM 1958 IT ACTED AS THE PARISH CHURCH UNTIL SUBSEQUENTLY REPLACED BY A MORE IMPRESSIVE MODERN CHURCH BUILDING IN 1974.

THE INSIDE OF THE OLD CHURCH REFLECTS THE TIME OF ITS CONSTRUCTION, JUST PRIOR TO THE CHANGES FLOWING FROM VATICAN II. A SIMPLE STONE REREDOS, A PLAIN WOODEN ALTAR, WOODEN ALTAR RAILS AND THE TRADITIONAL SIX CANDLES FLANKING A CENTRAL TABERNACLE. DESPITE ITS QUITE TRADITIONAL ARRANGEMENT THE FURNISHINGS HAVE A MODERN APPEARANCE INDICATIVE OF THE BEGINNING OF THE TRENDS THAT WOULD LATER SWEEP THE POST VATICAN II CHURCH, SIMPLICITY RATHER THAN ORNAMENT BEING THE KEYNOTE OF CHURCH DESIGN WELL BEFORE VATICAN II TO WHICH THE VERNACULAR MASS GAVE TRUE LITURGICAL DEFINITION.

FOLLOWING THE END OF THE SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL THE CHANCEL WAS ALTERED TO MEET THE LITURGICAL REQUIREMENTS OF THE NEW ORDER OF THE MASS. THE ALTAR TABLE WAS ADVANCED AND THE RAILS REMOVED. THE OLD TABERNACLE WAS MOUNTED ON A SHELF THAT WAS ATTACHED TO THE REREDOS. THIS CAN BE READILY VIEWED BY COMPARING THE PICTURE ON THE RIGHT TO THAT ON THE LEFT SHOWING THE SANCTUARY AS IT WAS DURING THE LAST NUPTIAL MASS TO BE HELD IN THE OLD CHURCH IN 1973.

POSITIONED DIRECTLY ACROSS FROM THE NEW CHURCH AND IN ESSENTIALS UNALTERED FROM ITS FORMER LOOK, THE LITTLE BRICK CHURCH BUILDING STILL SERVES THE COMMUNITY AS A PARISH HALL AND THE LOCATION OF A POPULAR PARISH TRADITION, THE POST-MASS SUNDAY MORNING TEA.

TO MEET THE NEEDS OF A FAST GROWING CATHOLIC POPULATION OF THE SUBURB A LARGER MODERN CHURCH WAS ERECTED IN 1974 IN ACCORD WITH THE NEW LITURGICAL DIRECTIONS PUT IN PLACE AFTER CHANGES MADE BY THE SECOND VATICAN COUNCIL.

THE CHURCH, CONSTRUCTED OF BRICK AND CONCRETE, IS IN FORM A FLATTENED SEMI-CIRCULAR SAUCER THUS CREATING A FAN-SHAPED NAVE WHICH RETAINS A DISTINCT SANCTUARY AREA THAT IS SIGNIFIED BY A UNIQUE SPIRE OF CYLINDRICAL CONCRETE.

FROM 1986 TILL 2008 CORPUS CHRISTI WAS HONOURED AS THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF THE DIOCESE OF BROKEN BAY AS WELL AS THE PLACE OF THE EPISCOPAL CATHEDRA.

THE UNUSUAL SPIRE IS OF CONCRETE AND HOLLOW WITH A SKYLIGHT HIGH ABOVE THE AREA OF THE CHANCEL, A PLAIN METAL CROSS ADORNING THE SPIRE. THE FRONT SEGMENT OF THE CIRCULAR ROOF EXTENDS OUTWARDS TO PROVIDE A COVERING OVER THE DOUBLE ENDED PORCH LEADING TO GLASSED ENTRANCE DOORWAYS IN THE LARGISH COMMUNITY NARTHEX.

SEEN FROM THE LATERAL ANGLE THE OVERLAPPING LAYERS OF THE ROOF ARE CLEARLY VISIBLE. THE BUILDING IS COMPLEMENTED BY SOME LOVELY LANDSCAPED GROUNDS WHICH OFFER AN ATTRACTIVE AMBIENCE FOR THE CHURCH AND A LOCATION WHERE THE CONGREGATION CAN MEET AND TALK AFTER MASS OR PAUSE TO REST FOR A PERSONAL SPIRITUAL REFLECTION.

THE INTERIOR OF THE CHURCH FANS OUT AND SO IT MIRRORS FAITHFULLY THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE MODERN MASS WITH THE SEATING ARRANGED IN A WIDE SEMI-CIRCLE AROUND THE LITURGICAL FOCUS OF THE SERVICE.

THE LITURGICAL EAST FRONT OF THE CHURCH IS FORMED BY A BRICK WALL PIERCED BY NARROW STAINED GLASS WINDOWS WITH ON EACH SIDE OF THE SANCTUARY MODERN RENDITIONS OF THE TRADITIONAL STATUES OF OUR LADY AND THE MOST SACRED HEART.

THE RAISED SANCTUARY IS OPEN AND UNCLUTTERED GIVING A FULL VISUAL ACCESS FOR THE CONGREGATION. A PARTICULARLY STRIKING ASPECT OF THE INNOVATIVE CHURCH DESIGN IS THE CYLINDRICAL HOUSING FOR THE TABERNACLE AND CRUCIFIX WITH ITS DOMINATING AND IMPOSING CORPUS.

THE ELEGANT SANCTUARY FURNISHINGS (>>>) COMPRISE A MATCHING MARBLE ALTAR AND AMBO, THE LATTER MORE IN THE STYLE OF A PULPIT THAN A LECTERN. UNTIL 2008 THE SIMPLE EPISCOPAL THRONE BENEATH THE BISHOP'S ARMS WAS LOCATED TO THE RIGHT.

TYPICAL OF MOST CATHOLIC PARISHES, CORPUS CHRISTI IS THE CENTRE OF A COMPLEX OF BUILDINGS SERVING THE WORK OF THE CHURCH. ASIDE FROM THE CHURCH ITSELF THERE IS A PRESBYTERY OPENED IN 1961 AND THE FORMER CHURCH NOW THE CHURCH HALL OPENED IN 1953. THE FIRST RELIGIOUS ORDER TO COME TO ST IVES WERE THE PASSIONISTS WHO FOUNDED ST PIUS X COLLEGE AS A JUNIORATE IN 1937. IN 1954, FOLLOWING THE OPENING OF THE FIRST CHURCH, THE BRIGIDINES ESTABLISHED A CONVENT AT ST IVES AND FOUNDED CORPUS CHRISTI PARISH SCHOOL AND BRIGIDINE COLLEGE. BOTH THE BRIGIDINE CONVENT AND THE PASSIONIST RETREAT LATER BECAME THE PROVINCIALATE AND THE NOVITIATE OF THEIR RESPECTIVE ORDERS. DESPITE TWO DECADES AS A CATHEDRAL PARISH, ST IVES HAD NONE OF THE BUILDINGS ASSOCIATED WITH A DIOCESAN ADMINISTRATION DUE TO ITS LOCATION WELL AWAY FROM THE CENTRAL COMMERCIAL AXIS OF THE DIOCESE BUT IT WAS HOWEVER HOME TO THE BISHOP'S RESIDENCE UNTIL 2007 WHEN, RENAMED MURPHY HOUSE AFTER THE FIRST BISHOP, IT WAS INTENDED TO BE A DIOCESAN SEMINARY. THIS PLAN WAS LATER PUT ASIDE DUE TO A LACK OF CANDIDATES AND IN 2008 IT BECAME THE PRIORY OF THE DISCALCED CARMELITE FRIARS WHO HAD BEEN INVITED BY BISHOP DAVID WALKER TO TAKE OVER CARE OF THE PARISH.

THE PARISH PRESBYTERY IS A DOMESTIC BRICK BUILDING CONSTRUCTED IN 1961 AS THE RESIDENCE FOR THE PARISH PRIEST. TODAY THIS UNPRETENTIOUS STRUCTURE CONTINUES TO HOUSE THE PARISH STAFF OBLIVIOUS TO THE DIGNITY THAT HAD FOR TWENTY YEARS GRACED THE CHURCH AS THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF THE DIOCESE AND THE LOCATION OF A BISHOP'S CHAIR.

THE HISTORICAL PHOTOS USED ON THIS PAGE WERE PROVIDED BY THE PARISH SECRETARY OF ST IVES AND HER UNSTINTING ASSISTANCE AND SUPPORT IN PREPARING THIS PAGE AND CHECKING FOR ERRORS ARE HERE ACKNOWLEDGED WITH GRATITUDE.