IT WAS on April 8 1951 that a major change in the territorial administration of the Catholic Church in Taranaki took place and a new parish, comprising Fitzroy and Vogeltown, was born. The Rev Father D. G. Bourke of Wellington was placed in charge.
In the previous year the adjacent parish of Waitara had been created.
Formation of the Fitzroy parish was by no means the first sign of a strong
Catholic presence in the area.
For some years the Sisters of the Mission occupied a large house at the end
of Darnell St and it was there that Mass was celebrated in the days of Father
Barr Brown, who was assistant priest at New Plymouth.
The "old house', as it was fondly known, was also used as the first Catholic
school in Fitzroy but it was not long before expanding class sizes brought
about the building of St John Bosco's school on the current site in 1942.
The school was built on a property at the end of Clinton St. The site was being looked at by the housing division of the Ministry of Works for State housing but thanks to the astuteness of the Parish Priest of New Plymouth, the Very Rev Father P. J. Minogue, and a stalwart of the church, local solicitor Mr. C. E. Monaghan, the very desirable area was secured for church use.
The first building erected on this site was the presbytery that, in later years, was shifted further towards the western boundary of the property. Several years ago a self-contained apartment for a housekeeper was built on the back of the presbytery. Some time later this reverted to the presbytery freeing up room in the old presbytery for offices and a large meeting room.
The three-classroom school became the Mass centre for Fitzroy, with two sets of folding doors being opened out to provide a spacious area.
Fifteen years later - appropriately on May 13, 1957, the feast of Our Lady Help of Christians whose name the parish bears - work began on a new church, culminating in its opening and blessing by Archbishop P. T. B. McKeefry on Sunday, June 22, 1958.
At last Fitzroy had its own church.
Its unique octagonal exterior design and interior layout put it well ahead of its time and very much in line with modern trends as the four blocks of seats allow worshippers to view the sanctuary from the front and both sides.
Father Bourke got his inspiration for the new 385-seat church from an American design and the church was the first to be built in New Zealand along those lines.
The £20,000 church of Our Lady Help of Christians was built at that time to serve the 850 parishioners of the Fitzroy-Brooklands parish.
But an increasing population in New Plymouth saw Brooklands created as a parish in its own right in 1959 and St Pius X school - which had been built seven years before - was used as a Mass centre until St Philomena's Church was opened in September 1963.
This population boost was very evident at Bell Block where, in 1980, a Mass centre was built in Kingsford St on part of a large property left to the parish by the late Mr and Mrs J. Barry. This building has since been shifted to its present site with access off Parklands Ave.