Parish History

A Brief History of Sacred Heart and St. Anthony’s parish

Until the early years of the 20^th century, there were only a few Catholic families who lived in Armadale. Along with others from surrounding villages and hamlets the families walked to Bathgate St Mary’s church for Sunday mass. The sacraments were also conducted here by priests attached to St Mary’s.

From about 1905 mass began to be celebrated in Armadale Town Hall. A fund had been set up by Irish workers living in the local Model Lodging House. This fund paid for the hire of the hall for a weekly mass. The first priest to say mass in Armadale was Fr. Bernard Eardley, who from 1905 to 1906 looked after Catholics in the town. Today there is a street named after him in one of the newer housing estates at the southern end of the town.

Fr. Thomas McDonagh succeeded Fr. Eardley from 1906 to 1912 and it was he who oversaw the building of a Chapel School dedicated to St Anthony of Padua. This building provided a place of learning during the week for local children and for others from Blackridge and Whitburn. On Sundays, partition walls were moved to allow the Catholic population to attend mass. As yet Armadale had no permanently resident priest, Fr. McDonagh lived in a cottage on Whitburn Main Street serving the people of Whitburn, Blackburn and Armadale.

Fr. Edward Miley covered these areas from 1912 to 1916, followed by Fr. Robert J Rattray from 1916 to 1925. The passing of the 1918 Education Act meant that St Anthony’s School cum Chapel building now passed into the care of the Scottish Education Authority. So the people of Armadale had to look for a new place for regular Sunday Mass. Luckily the local Territorial Drill Hall at the corner of James Street came up for sale along with its house and was bought by Fr. Rattray for use as a church and presbytery. The title of Sacred Heart was added to St. Anthony for the new church building. The priest continued to live in Whitburn.

Following the death of Fr. Rattray in 1925 Fr. Michael Whelehan (later Canon) took over the duties for Whitburn Blackburn and Armadale. He moved from Whitburn to live in the house attached to the church in Armadale in 1925. The parish of Sacred Heart and St Anthony was officially designated in 1928.

Other priests followed during some difficult times of great hardship and depression. They were Fr. Gerald Dorrian 1933-1937, Fr. Manus McIlhargie 1937-1940. By now the number of Catholics in the burgh was increasing and a bigger and more convenient building was needed. In 1941 new parish priest Fr. O’Connor bought land in Wotherspoon Crescent on which to build a bigger church. This land was where the Irish workers had lived in the Model Lodging House. But the new church building was to remain a dream for almost 30 years. However a bigger and more convenient Presbytery was built in 1958 on part of the site.

Fr. Donnelly arrived as parish priest in 1947. By now four masses were having to be said each Sunday in the small church. This was made possible by the welcome arrival of Fr. Brian Halloran as Curate in 1959. Finally permission was granted by Cardinal Gordon Gray for plans to be drawn up for a new church building. At last in 1974 the Sacred Heart and St Anthony church was opened by the Cardinal and solemnly dedicated in 1986 by Archbishop Keith O’Brien. Fr. Donnelly remained as parish priest until his death in 1976. Other curates worked alongside him- Fr. Michael McNamara late 1960s -1971; Fr. Hennessy 1971-1976.

Parish priests who followed were; Fr. Charles Kelly 1976- 1983, Fr. Liam Healey 1983-1988; Fr. Hennessy 1988-1990 (who had previously been a Curate here); Fr. Tom Flynn 1990-1992; Fr. Gerry Fitzsimmons 1992-1996. During this time the Canon Law of the church was changed to allow girls to be Altar Servers and young girls of the parish rushed to get trained; Fr. Bryan Byrne (later Canon) 1996-2004.

In 2004 Canon Byrne took semi-retirement and the parishioners of St Joseph’s Whitburn and Sacred Heart and St Anthony’s were supervised by Fr Jim Smith who resided in the Whitburn Presbytery. Canon Byrne continued to say some masses and stayed in the Armadale presbytery until ill health meant moving into care.

Fr. Jamie Boyle then served the joint parishes from 2010-2014. Fr Sebastian Thurruthippillil was appointed in 2014 as was Permanent Deacon Ronnie MacAuley. In September 2018 a new parish of St. Barbara’s was dedicated by Archbishop Leo Cushley, joining the two neighbouring parishes of St Joseph and Sacred Heart and St Anthony.

From the earliest years there have been many societies - religious, charitable and social in the parish of Sacred Heart and St. Anthony; drama groups, musical groups, entertainments, scouting and guiding groups, dances, bingo and celebrations of sacraments or other important occasions. St. Vincent De Paul Society has been around from those early years with a break in the early 2000s. The parish also had a very strong Union of Catholic Mothers group. A Social Club was in existence by the 1970s and permission was given in July 1976 to use the drill hall rooms as a venue for meetings and activities. This soon became too small to host the larger social gatherings and a fund was begun by parishioners to raise money for a purpose built space. Over many years donations were raised from raffles and other fund raising events, collections and a few large individual donations which led to the building of St Anthony’s Catholic Social Club. Many parishioners helped in the physical building of the premises which still stands at the top of South Street. From its earliest times the Club has hosted many parish social gatherings and has donated generous amounts of money to the parish over the years. For many years an annual mass was celebrated in recognition of the close link between the parish and the club. The Social Club continues to provide a venue for many parish activities.