Jubilee celebrations at Sacred Heart Church, Hawarden
Bishop Peter along with parishioners and priests from around the diocese of Wrexham celebrated the 50th Jubilee Anniversary of the Catholic Church of the Sacred Heart at Hawarden during a special celebratory Mass. Also in attendance were distinguished guests, Lord Barry Jones and Lady Janet Jones, and the Chair and Vice-chair of Hawarden Community Council, Cllrs. Glenys and Alan Diskin.
From the early 1920s Mass has been celebrated in Hawarden and during the mid-1930s a priest lived on site. It was however during the early 1960s that plans were drawn up to build the Church of The Sacred Heart which was finally opened in 1967.
We read in the Menevia Record of Summer 1967:
'Sunday June 4th marked the beginning of a new chapter in the Catholic history of Hawarden, Flintshire. Anglicans and Methodists attended the solemn blessing and opening by Bishop Petit of the lovely new church of the Sacred Heart which replaced a timber and corrugated-iron building given by a non-catholic over 45 years ago. The chairman of Hawarden RDC, Cllr. F.Roberts, led a civic delegation to the ceremony. It was Mr C.B.Toller, a property owner, who built the original little church in 1922, when his wife became a Catholic. There were only ten Catholics in Hawarden at that time but now there are about three hundred. Mass was first offered in the village by the late Father David Crowley of Buckley, a few miles away. He became the first parish priest of Hawarden in 1936. The present parish priest is Canon Joseph Geraghty. Individual parishioners have given the tabernacle and reredos, wall-crucifix and Baptismal font of the new church. Seventy-two families have made various gifts thus making them founders.'
During the Mass, Bishop Peter gave thanks to the current parishioners and their priest Fr. Roy of the Society of Divine Vocations, remembering too all past parishioners and priests who have served them including benefactors of the parish, both living and dead.
From the early 1920s Mass has been celebrated in Hawarden and during the mid-1930s a priest lived on site. It was however during the early 1960s that plans were drawn up to build the Church of The Sacred Heart which was finally opened in 1967.
We read in the Menevia Record of Summer 1967:
'Sunday June 4th marked the beginning of a new chapter in the Catholic history of Hawarden, Flintshire. Anglicans and Methodists attended the solemn blessing and opening by Bishop Petit of the lovely new church of the Sacred Heart which replaced a timber and corrugated-iron building given by a non-catholic over 45 years ago. The chairman of Hawarden RDC, Cllr. F.Roberts, led a civic delegation to the ceremony. It was Mr C.B.Toller, a property owner, who built the original little church in 1922, when his wife became a Catholic. There were only ten Catholics in Hawarden at that time but now there are about three hundred. Mass was first offered in the village by the late Father David Crowley of Buckley, a few miles away. He became the first parish priest of Hawarden in 1936. The present parish priest is Canon Joseph Geraghty. Individual parishioners have given the tabernacle and reredos, wall-crucifix and Baptismal font of the new church. Seventy-two families have made various gifts thus making them founders.'
During the Mass, Bishop Peter gave thanks to the current parishioners and their priest Fr. Roy of the Society of Divine Vocations, remembering too all past parishioners and priests who have served them including benefactors of the parish, both living and dead.
