6pm, Thursday 9th December, 2021, at Our Lady of Lourdes Church, Perth – celebrant Bishop Stephen Robson.
The original livestream has been updated.
The Catholic community of Perth had been well served by St John’s Church, Melville Street which opened in 1832 and by St Mary’s Kinnoull which opened as a Redemptorist Monastery in 1869. However, after World War II, it became apparent to Mgr Coogan, the parish priest at St John’s at that time, that the growing number of parishioners could not all be accommodated at the Melville Street Church.
The building of new housing estates on the edge of the city had taken many Catholics away from the proximity of their parish church in the centre of Perth. It was decided that two new churches would be built in Perth with the Edinburgh architect Peter Whiston selected to design the new churches. Our Lady of Lourdes would become an independent parish and serve the western parts of Perth including Letham and Tulloch. St Mary Magdalene’s was built as chapel of ease serving Craigie, although it would become a parish church a few years later. Both churches were built simultaneously and were opened within a week of each other.
Our Lady of Lourdes was officially dedicated and blessed on 25th October 1958 by Bishop Hart DD. Press reports in the local newspaper stated “The dedication stone of the new Roman Catholic church and chapel house at Letham, Perth, was blessed by the Bishop of Dunkeld, Bishop W.A. Hart, D.D., at a largely attended ceremony on Saturday forenoon.
The estimated cost of the church, which is to be named “Our Lady of Lourdes” – as it is being built during the Lourdes centenary year – is about £24,000. It is expected to be completed just before Christmas.
At the dedication Mass, Bishop Hart, preceded by a cross bearer and acolytes and a procession of the clergy from his diocese, walked round the outside of the building. He sprinkled the walls with holy water then entered the church to bless the dedication stone. The church which is very spacious in concept and very modern, relying on its severity of line and proportion for architectural merit. It is built on a flat steel frame which supports a copper roof and the outside walls are built of road setts. The windows, which are inset with crosses in blue glass, are concentrated in certain focal points of the church to allow for a composition of light.”