Together, as we greet the many challenges of our times, we hold the values of love, belonging, care and friendship. These values continue to shape us and describe us as the people we are.
History of the Parish
Situated 19.1 kilometres due north of the Melbourne CBD, Dallas is largely a residential suburb, sitting beneath the shadow of the sun rising over the Ford and the Visy plants. The suburbs of Coolaroo to the north of Barry Road and Meadow Heights to the north-west of Dallas have extended the size of the parish considerably in recent years. For some time now Holy Child Parish has been multi-cultural in make up and in the last ten to fifteen years it has become home to many Vietnamese families in particular. Our current census records show that 1200 catholic families live in our parish.
Holy Child Parish became a parish through the determination, hard work and generosity of its people. Archbishop Simmonds officially blessed and opened the parish on April 29th 1965. In the years since the inception of the parish, and the rugged and barren landscape, which greeted Fr Jenkins at the time, there has been much development.
Fr Des Jenkins, the first parish priest of Holy Child arrived in the January of 1965 and the first Mass was celebrated on January 31st. There were 200 families living in the parish at the time. There were no houses built north of Barry Road and Fr Jenkins spoke of a rugged, dusty and barren landscape that greeted him. Out of this landscape was to flourish a vibrant parish community.
On February 8th 1965 school began with Sr Mary Peter (Sr Theresa Stubbs) as the first principal. Two classrooms housed the fifty children who began in prep that year and the seventy-one children who began in a grade 1 / 2 composite class.
One point of interest is the parish hall, which still exists today. Fr Jenkins purchased two packing cases, which had housed mirage fighters on their journey from France, at a cost of 30 pounds ($60). These, put together, provided 'a waterproof and spacious' hall, which is still in use today.
In May 1968, Archbishop Knox blessed - just three years after the opening and blessing of the parish - the new church building, two new classrooms and the presbytery.
In the years since, the parish has been blessed with dedicated, hard working and creative Parish Priests: Fr Pat Creed from 1970 until 1975, Fr Paul Dalton from 1975 until 1981, Fr Barry Caldwell from 1982 until 1992, and Fr Joe Ruys from 1992 to the present.
In 2002, the parish realized yet another dream, which was the opening of a new parish center in Meadow Heights, the Holy Family Center. As well as the Holy Child Parish church and school in Dallas, the parish now also has a very real presence in the Meadow Heights area. The Holy Family Center is a multi-purpose center providing for a 9.30 Sunday Mass in its functions area, housing the parish administration, as well a local St Vincent de Paul food bank, and a counseling room available to various community support agencies for sessional work.
