
Deacon Andrew leading the group in The Stations of the Cross
- Deacon Andrew and Bishop Justin
- Our Lady of Sion Church Cat Island
- Ada and Pat Mills were both baptised by John Hawes.
- Our Lady of Sion
- Andrew Deveaux’s House was on the site of a Cotton Plantation
- The ruins of Deveaux House
- Deacon Andrew at entrance to St Francis of Assisi
- Priest Lodge outside St Francis of Assisi built by Hawes
- The Holy Redeemer
- Pulpit in The Holy Redeemer
- Frieze in The Holy Redeemner
- The resource Centre opposite The Holy Redeemer is dedicated to Hawes.
- Resource Centre named in Honour of Fr Jerome in The Bight
- Entrance to dilapidated Priests House at Holy redeemer
- Sign at the entrance to Mt Alvernia
- The Stations of the Cross
- Bishop Justin prays at the entrance to the burial place of John Hawes.
- Bishop Justin looking into the cave in which Hawes lived while he was building his Hermitage
- Fr Robert Cross and Bishop Justin from Geraldton explore The Hermitage
- Fr Robert and Bishop Justin celebrate Mass in the Chapel of The Holy Ghost
- Hawes’ prie-dieu in the chapel of The Hermitage Cat Island
- Our Lady of Good Counsel – Engraved into the wall of the Chapel
The Pilgrims were hosted on Cat Island by Deacon Andrew who had done a great deal of work in preparation for the visit.
There are many Hawes-related buildings on the island as this is where Fr Jerome spent the best part of the last 14 years of his life.
A church that had caused Hawes a great amount of heartache due to changes made by a young priest, but which ended up being restored to Hawes' design and decor, was Our Lady of Sion at Port Howe. Here Deacon Andrew had arranged for the Pilgrims to meet 2 local parishioners, Ada and Jimmy. They had both known Hawes and Ada had been baptised by him and was delighted to meet one of the Pilgrims, Pat Mills, who had also been baptised by him when he was the parish priest in Mullewa WA.
The Pilgrims were interested to visit the Deveaux House. This was the home of a Cotton Planter and Hawes had stayed here when he first arrived on Cat Island in 1940. It was a partial ruin in Hawes time and more so now but it was interesting to note that Hawes had celebrated Mass here on several occasions.
The Church of St Francis of Assisi had a strong connection to the West Australians as it was financed by the West Australian Franciscan Tertiaries and Hawes himself. The fundraising in Western Australia had been coordinated by a friend of Hawes from Mullewa, Barbara Arnold.
The largest church which was built by Hawes on Cat Island is the Church of The Holy Redeemer at Freetown. This was also funded by Hawes and had a similar design to his Mullewa church. Beside the Church are the remains of The Sacristy. This had been a ruined house when Hawes purchased the land for the church and he had restored it and used it as a temporary chapel while the church was being built. The Pilgrims were able to contribute to Deacon Andrew's fundraising efforts to restore this building to be used as a Retreat Centre.
The highlight of the Cat Island visit was of course the visit to The Hermitage on Mt Alvernia. As well as Bishop Justin and Fr Robert celebrating Mass in the chapel, Deacon Andrew lead the Pilgrims in the Stations of the Cross which are constructed on the pathway up to the Hermitage. The group spent a great deal of time exploring the area and discovering the various features nearby including the cave in which Hawes had lived while building the Hermitage, his well, his separate kitchen, etc.