St Michael's Cathedral

Church Find welcomes St Michael's Cathedral in Darlington, who engaged in a revitalisation journey enriching the community, for all their latest times and information including times.

The first St Michael’s church ceased serving as a Melkite Church in the early 1970s. At that time the parish priest, Rev. Father Aftimios Haddad, commissioned the Board of Trustees to find a new site for the community’s church. The old St Michael’s was sold to the NSW Housing Commission and new premises for the Melkites were purchased in Darlington on the site of St Kieren’s Roman Catholic Church.
In 1977 the new church of St Michael was inaugurated. The building retains many of the old features of St Kieren’s, but has also added distinct Melkite features, such as the baptismal font, stained glass depicting the Blessed Virgin Mary and iconostasis from the old church.
The status of the Australian Melkite community was confirmed when on Wednesday, 31 December 1980, His Beatitude Maximos V. Hakim was welcomed at Sydney International Airport by Rev. Archimandrite Aftimos Haddad, accompanied by a large gathering of the Melkite and the other Christian communities as well as by a host of dignitaries.
It was His Beatitude’s second visit to Australia, the first being in 1973, but this time, in addition to many official engagements, his visit had as one of its main aims the consecration of the new St Michael’s church at Darlington, which took place on Sunday, 4 January 1981.
The church was filled to capacity, with the congregation extending into the church grounds where they followed the celebration of the Mass relayed through a public address system. After the Blessing of the Commemorative Stone, His Beatitude expressed his thanks to His Eminence Cardinal Freeman, who was among many prominent guests, for his co-operation with the Trustees in the finding and re-building of the new Church.
He also prayed that God would reward the entire community for its generosity and urged the congregation to hold firm to their traditions and to preserve their Eastern Rite of the Catholic Church and to continue to strengthen their ties with the Latin and Western Churches.
Since 1895 and until 1990, the Chouerite fathers served in the parish of St Michael the Archangel. In 1987, the Holy Synod appointed Most Rev. Bishop George Riachi, as the first Eparch for the Melkite Eparchy, and this appointment was approved by His Holiness Pope John Paul II. At the same time, St Michael’s became a Cathedral. In 1995 Bishop Riachi was relocated to the Diocese of Tripoli, following his election as its Bishop.
In 1996, Most Rev. Bishop Issam John Darwish was elected as the Eparch of the Eparchy of St Michael the Archangel, and his installation as Bishop was on 2 June 1996, in the presence of both Most Rev. Bishop Francois Abou Mokh and Bishop John Mansour.
On 22 September 1999, the Holy Father Pope John Paul II extended the jurisdiction of the Bishop of St Michael’s of Sydney for the Greek-Melkite Catholics over the Greek-Melkite Catholic faithful residing in New Zealand by a "DECRETUM” Prot. N. 163/97.