Sacred Heart Mission

Sacred Heart Mission in St Kilda, an inner-urban suburb of Melbourne, is a medium-sized not-for-profit organisation that grew from the Catholic parish of The Sacred Heart in Grey Street, West St Kilda. It addresses homelessness, social exclusion and disadvantage by providing a range of diverse and creative services that:

A researcher on social structure in St Kilda in 1979 commented that "there seems to be an above average concentration of isolated single men" often living in rooming houses. Even though such accommodation had been on the decline, there were still 4,298 rooming house beds across 247 rooming houses in St Kilda in 1978. Almost one-third of rooming houses across the inner-Melbourne city councils were in St Kilda and the unemployment rate was nearly 10% in 1981. Community services were hard pressed to meet existing demands. It was in this context that Sacred Heart Mission had its origins in early 1982. Then newly appointed parish priest, Fr Ernie Smith, offered a welcoming response to those who came to the presbytery door seeking food and shelter. Demand grew to such an extent that a volunteer roster was set up to serve food daily and the daily meal was moved from the small presbytery kitchen to the hall supper room. By 1984 a manager was appointed, other welfare activities supporting people who were homeless, isolated and disadvantaged were taking shape and Sacred Heart Mission was set up as a separate legal entity.

Fr Ernie was succeeded as parish priest in 1998 by Fr Terry Kean, and he in turn by Fr John Petrulis in 2007.

In 2015-2016 the Mission had a budget of $18.7m which is drawn from federal, state and local government funding, philanthropic, corporate and individual donations, fundraising events, bequests, grants, income from its clinic appointments and residential fees, and its op shops. The Mission employs 300 staff members and draws on the efforts of 1,200 individual volunteers. The work of the Mission encompasses a range of services and programs.

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