Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus

Priests who have served Our Parish

And the following Carmelite Priests

A Visit to Our Church

Our Church is dedicated in Honour of the Sacred Heart of Jesus as a symbol of the Divine Love for mankind. It was built by international subscription and opened for worship on the 27^th of August 1902. The design is part copied from the village church at Nun Monkton, near York. At the time Sittingbourne was the centre of the brick trade and so the Church was built with local bricks, with decoration in Bath and Caen stone and different kinds of marbles. The architect was Mr William Leonard Grant and the principle contractor Mr E Bishop, both of the town.

On the frontage of the Church, facing the main road, there are three statues.

Over the door way is that of Jesus revealing His Love for men. On the right is the statue of St Augustine, who is said to have preached in Sittingbourne, and on the left that of St Thomas of Canterbury, as a reminder of the medieval pilgrims who passed this way on the road to the Shrine at Canterbury Cathedral.

Inside the Church hangs a silver plated sanctuary Lamp, its flame reminding us of the Blessed Sacrament, Holy Communion reserved in the Tabernacle behind the veil on the main Altar for the needs of the sick and our devotion.

The main altar is of Caen stone with the top of Paiswick stone. It’s two large statues are of St Anthony holding the Child Jesus and St Thomas of Canterbury bearing a model of the this Church.

His carvings above the Altar are of the Agony of Jesus and his Resurrection and those below of the symbolic presentation of the Keys to St Peter, the Last supper and the washing of the Apostles feet.

The stained glass windows behind the main Altar are by Hardman and depict Jesus revealing devotion to His Sacred Heart, St Margaret Mary to whom He revealed it, and the Virgin Mary as the “woman clothed in the sun with the moon at her feet." There are two beautiful round windows of the Virgin as Mother of Consolation and of Jesus in his Passion. The two modern stain glass windows show Our Lady of Carmel and St Joseph, The hanging “Rood” with figures of Jesus crucified and Mary and John at the foot of the Cross once a feature of many Kentish Churches, was placed in the building in 1933.

The two side Altars are dedicated to Our Lady of Mount Carmel and to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Other statues are of St Joseph (in stone) St Anthony with the Child Jesus and St Theresa.

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THE PRIESTS WHO HAVE SERVED THE PARISH (to 1935)

From 1892 to 1926, and again since 1976, the parish was in the care of the priests of the Southwark Diocese. For 50 years, from 1926 to 1976 it was privileged to be cared for by the Calced Carmelite Friars, who also look after Aylesford and Faversham. Until the Second World War the town was very small and because the population was mostly of Kentish families the percentage of Catholics was very low compared with many other places. When the town began to develop after the War a more mixed population came to live in Sittingbourne and the Parish grew fast. After 1970 many commuter families moved into the town but before 1980 another change took place when many of the families moved away owing to the high railway fares and local industries began to develop. This build up of local industry, adding many small factories to the two paper mills and the Shell agricultural research complex has helped to find occupiers for vacant housing and to assist the continuing growth of the town. In the past two years this growth, owing to the national recession, has proceeded more slowly than was first anticipated.  

On the morning of his departure for Norbiton (Kingston) in November 1907, Fr O’Sullivan expressed these sentiments: “I shall always retain most agreeable memories of Sittingbourne and Milton, and of the tolerance and kindness expressed to me generally during the 15 years I have had the happiness of working among them. No one could wish to live among a more agreeable people”. He was succeeded by Fr Stanley Mason, a convert to Catholicism, an organist and an outstanding tennis player. After 5 years he left the town to be succeeded by Fr Leo Fichter, who only stayed one year. 

During the eventful years 1913-1918 the Parish was led by Fr John Henry Peall. At one time there were over 2,000 troops stationed in the Parish awaiting shipment to France, and Fr Bradley came as assistant priest. Appeals were made for bandages, and a club opened for the soldiers. The Irish Fusiliers played at Sunday Mass and had a solemn High Mass and blessing of Shamrock on Lloyd’s cricket field. Fr Peall found the presbytery too damp for him, rented it out and found other accommodation at “Hillside” - he also expressed the hope that the Zeppelins would look after the Club Room! He made strenuous efforts to clear the remaining debt of £800 on the ground on which the presbytery and school were built. The annual interest on this debt was £40, a sum equal to the yearly total of the Sunday collections. This was achieved through the Silver Jubilee Appeal of 1917 when he sent out 2,000 begging letters and announced in Church: “a machine gun corps is needed to fire them off as quickly as possible”. It was probably during the war years that the mechanical chiming device for the church bells was abandoned - perhaps because of the cost of repair, shortage of skilled workers, or destruction of the Belgian foundry - and they were converted for manual ringing. 

After the war, Fr David Leahy, an ex-army chaplain, served the Parish for 3 years to be succeeded by the church historian, Fr Bernard Kelly, for 1 year from 1922 to 1923. Fr Alexander Trew came to Sittingbourne in 1923, generally redecorated the presbytery and handed the Parish over to the Carmelite Fathers in 1926. 

Early in 1926 the first Carmelite Fathers of the Irish Provence came to settle in England and Fr James Cogan and Fr Malachy Lynch were living in Faversham. Bishop Amigo intended that the two then very poor missions of Faversham and Sittingbourne should be united, but this never happened. Fr Lynch (later to re-found Aylesford Priory) took charge of Faversham, while Fr Cogan came to take charge of Sittingbourne. In those days it was found necessary to keep the Church locked for fear of thefts. In his visitation report of 1929 Bishop Brown suggested enlarging the Church, a metter raised in every visitation report since that date. Fr Cogan purchased land near where St Peter’s School now stands for a parish tennis club.  

The second Carmelite priest was Fr Elias Lynch (brother of Fr Malachy) who stayed from 1931 to 1933 and in those years placed the “Holy Rood” in the church (a gift from Mrs Steadfast, and probably made in Oberammergau) and started a very successful social club, before being asked to move to Faversham where he was to work until his death. 

The first priest to be inducted as “Parish Priest” was Fr Gerard Clery, who had recently returned from the Australian missions. He went back there the following year and was succeeded by Fr Conlith Fitzgerald who planned the building of the Carmel Hall. It was about this time that Bishop Brown suggested that as the railway was likely to be electrified beyond Gillingham the Parish should invest in Newington. In those days Newington was more important than Rainham.

In October 1935, Fr Paul Barker came to town and pressed forward the building of the Carmel Hall. The architect was Mr RW Waite of Highsted road and the builders Messrs G Bowes and sons of Milton. The hall cost £3,000 and the Parish was helped by an interest free loan of £500 from the Irish Province of the Carmelites. Throughout the Second World War the Hall was in use of the Parish and the energetic committee handled bookings and the fund raising to pay off the debt: some money being earned by parishioners addressing envelopes for begging letters sent by Fr Elias Lynch from Faversham to Ireland.
During the blitz, in 1941, Fr Bonaventure Fitzgerald who moved from Aberystwyth to war-torn Kent. Personally he saved the Church from destruction by climbing the belfry to put out a number pf fire bombs- the water was carried by the Vicar of the Holy Trinity Church. Fr Fitzgerald was a great fund raiser and builder as well as fine Priest, paid off the remaining dept on the hall, installed the present Church Organ, had the side Altars put into the Church and also the modern stain glass windows of Our Lady of Mount Carmel and St Joseph. In 1947 Fr Barrie Cogan was appointed Parish Priest, and during the 8 years he served the Parish it begun to expand with the development of Snipeshill.

Exert from "The Angelus Chime" by Fr Edgar Dunn

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