We are blessed to have a such a wonderful team leading our Parish.
Father Bob Harwood
I was born in Brisbane and grew up at Bracken Ridge. After school, I worked in
Environmental Health until my call to ministry took me to Theological Studies and ministry in
various parts of Queensland. I was ordained a Uniting Church Minister in 1986 but,
eventually found myself at home in the Catholic Church.
I was ordained a Catholic Priest in 2005 at St Mary’s in Ipswich and since then have served
at Sacred Heart Booval (2006-2014); as Coordinator Priest Chaplains, Chaplain to the Lady
Cilento Children’s Hospital and associate pastor to the Cathedral and Kangaroo Point East
Brisbane (2015-Sep 2016) and later as Priest in Charge of Kangaroo Point East Brisbane
until starting at Redcliffe Parish in April, 2017.
As we look to the future I am encouraged by Pope Francis who said in The Joy of The
Gospel, “The parish is not an outdated institution; precisely because it possesses great
flexibility, it can assume quite different contours depending on the openness and missionary
creativity of the pastor and the community. The parish is the presence of the Church in a
given territory, an environment for hearing God’s word, for growth in Christian life, for
dialogue, proclamation, charitable outreach, worship and celebration. In all its activities the
parish encourages and trains its members to be evangelisers”
These words inspire my journey as a priest and I hope will be a mark of the life of the parish as
we become a sign of the Joy of the Gospel.