Sacred Heart Parish Community of Cootamundra situated within the area bounded by the Lachlan and Murrumbidgee Rivers, an area which forms portion of the ancestral lands of the Wiradjuri people.
Cootamundra itself lies within this region through which the Olympic Way and the Main Southern Railway Line pass with the town being built in the fertile valley of the Muttama Creek.
To the north, the towns of Young & Cowra, to the east, Murrumburrah-Harden and Yass, to the south –east, Gundagai and Tumut, to south is Junee and to the west lies Temora and West Wyalong.
The Parish Community of Cootamundra has evolved over more than 180 years and has close ties to the early pioneering families that settled the District and surrounding villages of Illabo, Bethungra, Coolac, Muttama, Stockinbingal, Wallendbeen and a little further afield the village of Galong.
In 2011 the Parish celebrated 130th Anniversary following the appointment of Reverend Father Richard Butler as the first Parish Priest, who came to us from Tumut. Father Butler was to lay the foundations upon which a strong community would be developed towards catholic education of the young and a strong Sacramental life within the Community. He would be followed by many more dedicated servants, religious and lay persons, young and old, all endeavouring to help the community to grow stronger in faith, to care, to share, to be ever mindful of changing cultural and social boundaries – to speak up for the infirm, the poor, the lonely, the destitute and the abused, and most importantly to do more than to say, to act with justice, honesty and integrity, and to remain faithful to the words of the Gospels.
The influence of dedicated Irish Religious, Priest, Sisters and Brothers have left a big impact with the construction of the many fine Parish buildings, the education of the children in the schools together with the dedication of the nursing Sisters tending at the Parish Hospitals from early 1922 in Morris Street to the Mercy Hospital facilities constructed during the period of 1941 to 1981, the Retirement Village... the home visitations to the elderly and sick and the pastoral care to the bereaved, sick and destitute – the indelible print of which will be visible for many years to come.
Since Father Richard Butler was appointed in 1881, twelve parish priests have administered the Parish. Father Lolesio Gisa is the current Parish Priest since 2019.
The evolution of Sacred Heart Parish has not been completed nor is it likely to be so in the short term - the challenge now is for the existing community to build upon the gifts we have been given and to steer the way forward, into the future, for the next generations to follow...