A Brief History of Sacred Heart of Jesus Church, Singleton, NSW

A Brief History of Sacred Heart of Jesus Church, Singleton, NSW - by Mr John Quinlan

Singleton is a country town on the New England Highway in the Hunter River Valley, State of New South Wales, about 80 kilometres (50 miles) inland from the port city of Newcastle on the Pacific coast.

Sydney the State capital and SSPX Headquarters is about 160kms (100 mls) south of Newcastle and approximately 195kms (120mls) from Singleton.

The history of the Singleton church can be traced back to 1974 when some members of the present (2003) congregation returned to the traditional Mass in Melbourne. In 1975 they and two other families began attending Father Patrick Fox’s traditional Sunday Masses in Sydney, regularly making the long trip from the Hunter Valley until the arrival in Australia of the Society of Saint Pius X in August 1982.

Father Gerard Hogan, first Australian SSPX priest and first District Superior Australia, said the first Mass in the Hunter Valley in a private home on 15 September 1982.

The first public Mass was in a community hall in Hamilton, Newcastle on Sunday 3 October 1982. Sunday Mass continued there twice monthly until it was transferred to a hall in Adamstown, Newcastle, on Christmas Day the same year. This continued until 1994 when a very generous member of the congregation donated a property in Singleton to the Society, as well as funds for building the church.

The first Mass in Singleton was on Sunday 23rd October, 1994, in a large house on the property where it continued every Sunday and most Holy Days until the church was built. Bishop Tissier de Mallerais opened and consecrated the church on 21st July 1996. The house continues to be used as a residence for priests who occasionally stay over for a few days during the Holy Week/Easter and Christmas seasons.