St. Matthew’s became a parish on August 17, 1986. Prior to that, the areas of Loganholme, Shailer Park, Tanah Merah, Carbrook and Cornubia had been the Northern end of the Beenleigh Parish. The rapid growth in this part of Logan City in the early ‘80s led Fr. Bill O’Shea, Parish Priest of Beenleigh to meet with a local committee to consider future development.
St. Matthew’s Catholic Primary School was opened in 1984 and became the centre of Catholic life in the area. Classrooms were used as a Mass centre and a close knit, family based community began to develop. The development continued and was rapid. On August 17, 1986, Archbishop Rush opened the new church, declared St. Matthew’s to be a parish and the first Parish Priest was installed. Quite an historical day!
And so the St. Matthew’s story has continued to grow to where we are today. Another milestone in our development was our first Parish Assembly on 25 September, 1987 when we met to discuss what our goals were as a Parish and what directions we would like to move in. This is what the assembly perceived the goals of St. Matthew’s to be:
I hope you find St. Matthew’s to be a welcoming community and a place of real hospitality. We as Catholics are needed, more than ever before, to be relevant, supportive of each other, and to be a real sign of hope to all the community.