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The ground for the church was purchased in 1949 with the intention of providing a place of worship and a place for social activity for the local community. The design of the building allowed for it to be used either as a church or a hall by the lowering and raising of shutters located in the sanctuary.The first turf was cut by Canon Michael Coughlan, Parish Priest of St. Joseph's, Branksome. The foundation stone was laid by Bishop Francis Grimshaw, Bishop of Plymouth, on the 22nd July 1949. On the 16th April 1950 in the evening, the Bishop blessed the new church and hall and said High Mass, thus officially opening it for use. During its first years the congregation had the task of rearranging the furniture i.e. chairs and kneelers, and lifting and lowering the shutters for the weekly transition from church to hall and vice versa. In 1952 the hall was further divided to provide classrooms due to an overflow of numbers from St. Joseph's School. This arrangement continued until classes returned to the school in 1959/60. Up until 1953 when the Presbytery was built the parish was served from St. Joseph's and the first occupant, though not designated as parish priest, was Fr. Michael Reid.The first parish priest was Fr. Walsh, now Canon Walsh. Fr Walsh was a great fund raiser and decided that there was more to be gained from bingo than whist and so whist was dropped in favour of bingo which took place every Friday evening and was always well attended by the local community. These social activities as well as helping to build community also did much to pay off the church debt.The beautiful statue of Our Lady of Fatima which stands in the lady Chapel was brought back from Fatima in Portugal about 1956 at the end of a parish pilgrimage and was crowned last year after another successful pilgrimage to mark the beginning of the Jubilee. In 1962 Fr. Walsh was replaced by Fr. Cornelius Twohig who reordered the church, having the shutters removed and pews installed. Fr. Twohig was replaced by Fr. Christopher Smith, who enlarged the meeting room by demolishing a dividing wall thus allowing room for more events to be held. Since the departure of Fr. Smith there have been a number of priests serving the parish, Fr. Bill Kiely, Fr. Michael Howard, Fr. Terry Dolan. Each made his own mark in the gradual development of the church and the parish to where it is now.The present incumbent of the Presbytery, Fr. Stephen Geddes arrived in September 1998 and continues the work of his predecessors. Of the original congregation many have, of course, moved on and a number have died, but many remain. Their names can be found in the parish records and among the Lay Ministries and church organisations in which they continue to serve quietly and faithfully looking for no other reward or recognition than to serve their neighbour and their God. It is not unusual to see three generations of the same family worshipping together at Sunday Mass. This area will be updated soon - to include Fr Stephen Geddes, Fr Peter Burrows and Fr Ciaran McGuiness.
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