Plans lodged to demolish St Christopher’s Catholic Church’s presbytery for childcare centre

A Catholic presbytery and church office could be demolished to make way for a multimillion-dollar childcare and parish centre after reports the home was prone to sinking due to poor foundations.

Artist impression of the $7m proposed childcare and parish centre

A Catholic presbytery parish office could be demolished to make way for a multimillion-dollar childcare and parish centre after reports the building was prone to sinking due to poor foundations.

Plans have been lodged with Liverpool Council by Sydney Catholic Early Childhood services for a $7m childcare facility for 76 children and a parish centre with two offices and a meeting room at 195 Heathcote Rd, Holsworthy.

The development will be a joint building with two separate entrances and will reside on the site of the St Christopher’s Catholic Church and primary school – which have both been servicing the community since the 1990s.

St Christopher’s Catholic Church parish secretary Julie Stinson said the congregation is “so happy” with the plans as the new parish centre and childcare will help cater for the growing population of young families.

“The childcare will be good for the parish and will provide us with an income and the priests will be able to go into the childcare and speak to the children and have bible reading stories,” she said.

The current presbytery and parish office that could be demolished, pending council approval.

Ms Stinson said the presbytery and church office had been riddled with problems since it was built in the 1990s.

“We’ve had problems with this house as underneath the ground was sinking so the house is sinking but it’s nothing major,” she said.

“We’ve done a lot of surveys on the building and it’s full of cracks.”

Ms Stinson said the new parish centre will have four staff and have two office spaces for the two priests, Father Mathew Velliya and Father Chris de Souza, alongside a meeting room to host morning tea after mass.

The entrance into the church and school grounds where the proposed childcare and

“Currently if we want to have lunch or a meeting, we have to gather in the presbytery’s kitchen, so we don’t have any space to have a social gathering” she said.

While the new centre will no longer have a presbytery, Ms Stinson said only one priest, Rev. Mr Aisavali Salu, has resided at the home and he will be relocated once construction begins.

The childcare centre will have two external play areas and will have one room dedicated to a maximum of 16 babies, including cot rooms, bathroom facilities, bottle prep and storeroom.

The facility will also include another room for 20 toddlers, two preschool rooms for 20 children each, a communal area and staff facilities including meeting rooms, kitchen, laundry and reception.

The proposed hours of operation are from 7am to 6pm Monday to Friday and 14 staff members would operate the centre.

If plans are approved, Ms Stinson said the construction would begin by the end of the year and school and mass hours would proceed as usual.