Father James Dixon's Contribution To Australia

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Biography (100):
• Father James Dixon was born on 1758
• Ireland
• Educated by a neighbouring parish priest
• moved to Salamanca
• Finished studying in Louvain (1784)
• he went back to the Diocese of Ferns in 1785
• curate to Crossabeg to assist Fr. Redmond Roche in 1794
• Arrested there under the suspicion that he was part of an Irish rebellion.
• Sentenced to death but instead transported for life (16 Jan 1800) to Australia.
• Dixon continued to practice secretly
• 1808 he moved back to Ireland and returned to work at Crossabeg.
• On the 4th of January 1840 Dixon died and was buried in the Crossabeg chapel.
Contribution to Christianity in Australia (100):
• He contributed largely to Christianity in Australia
• He held the first mass …show more content…

Dixon helped build community (100):
• Fr. Dixon helped build the catholic community in Australia.
• Fr. Dixon brought all the Christians together and started a colony by:
- preaching the good news,
- performing the first Catholic mass and marriage
• When the governor gave permission to Fr. Dixon to practice Catholicism it started the gathering of Irish Christians who would meet together to celebrate mass
• When governor King stopped the practice of Christianity Dixon kept the community together by organising secret meetings of mass in his basement
• Even after Fr. Dixon was sent back to Ireland he continued to build and preach to a community there.

Fr. Dixons impact on the community (150):
• Fr. Dixon had a big impact on the Catholic community he had created in Australia
• After Fr. Dixon got permission to practice Christianity and perform catholic masses he attracted some Christians
• there were 2086 Irish convicts of which almost all were catholic
• He gathered most of these Catholic

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