St Alphonsa Cathedral Parish Melbourne North

Migration of Syro-Malabar faithful to Melbourne began in the late 1960s. Even though they were few in number, they kept in touch with each other along with other Kerala Christians during the ‘70s and ‘80s. The first Syro-Malabar Qurbana was celebrated at the St. Paschals Chapel, Box Hill in the mid-‘80s by Fr. Jacob Kavungal, SVD who is a seminary professor in Melbourne. The early ‘90s saw a few more families migrating to Melbourne, but the flow slowly started its momentum by the late nineties.

On 11th January 2014, His Holiness Pope Francis announced the establishment of the Eparchy of St Thomas the Apostle of Melbourne of the Syro-Malabar in Australia and appointed Bishop Bosco Puthur as its first Eparch. Property purchased at Mickleham was chosen as the Eparchy’s headquarters, where the Cathedral would be built.