The statistical
account of 1836 for the parish of Bothwell tells
us that the total population was 6,581,and of these
only 118 were Catholics. The chief occupation was
weaving and Mossend is not even mentioned. Within
a decade or so all that was to begin to change dramatically.
In that same year, 1836, the first Catholic mission
in Lanarkshire was established, at St.Margaret's,
Airdrie. Rapid growth in the coal mining and iron
and steel industries and the expansion of the railway
network brought a great demand for labour. At the
same time the Great Famine of the mid-1840’s
led to the exodus of thousands of Irish families
from their own land. Many of these settled in the
West of Scotland, especially in Glasgow and Lanarkshire.
In 1859 a Catholic
mission was set up in Chapelhall, the priest in
charge being Father James Milne, from the Enzie,
Banffshire; in his care were included the Catholics
of the Holytown, Mossend, Bellshill area. Nine years
later, in 1868, Father Milne opened a new chapel-school
in Mossend, dedicated to the Holy Family. It is
from that event that we date the beginnings of Mossend
as a parish, though in fact Father Milne continued
to be in charge of both Chapelhall and Mossend and
indeed resided in Chapelhall for another two years
or so after which he took up residence in the new
presbytery built at Mossend. Eventually, in 1873,
Chapelhall and Mossend became independent missions,
Father Milne remaining in charge here until 1881.
During these years
the population of the district was increasing rapidly.
Evidence of this is to be seen in the fact that
Father Michael Fox, who succeeded Father Milne in
1881, immediately set about the building of a large
extension to the school, giving it an accommodation
for 460 pupils. It had begun in 1868 with a roll
of 140. Accommodation for church services, too,
was no longer adequate and in 1883 work began on
the erection of a new place of worship. The Scottish
Catholic Directory for 1885 reports: "On 16th
November (1884) there was opened at Mossend a very
beautiful church designed by Messrs Pugin and Pugin
of Westminster... one of the neatest, most chaste
and elegant in this part of the country."
The concluding years
of the 19th century and the early years of the 20th
saw a steady growth in the size of the parish. Immigrants
continued to come from Ireland and, especially from
the early 1900s, large numbers from Lithuania. From
1895, with the arrival of Father Charles Daly, the
parish priest had the assistance of first one and
then two curates (in the 30s and 40s there were
three) and in 1904 Father John Czuberkis became
the first of five priests to live here with special
responsibility for the pastoral care of Lithuanian
immigrants in our community and throughout the West
of Scotland. The last of these Father Joseph Gutauskas
lived here from 1934 till 1941 when be moved to
St Columba’s Glasgow. He died in 1983 at the
age of eighty six. Much loved and esteemed not only
by his compatriots but by all who knew him, priests
and lay people alike, a legend in his own lifetime.
As Early as 1904
parish priest Father John Scannell saw that the
increasing growth in population would soon necessitate
new school premises. Thanks to his efforts and those
of a committee of parishioners he set up, a new
school was finally opened in 1907. From that day
till now parishioners of Holy Family have begun
their formal education in that fine building, under
the care of a succession of dedicated headteachers
and staff to whom the parish owes an incalculable
debt. The school roll continued to increase (in
1926 it was over 1800) until the opening of St Patrick’s
New Stevenson in 1929.
The depression of
the 20s and 30s brought hardship and hunger to most
families and as pits and steelworks closed down,
many moved to Fife or Corby and Scunthorpe in search
of work. At the same time parish life was vigorous
as Catholics found strength and support in their
faith.
Associations like
The Sacred Heart Confraternity the C.Y.M.S the K.S.C
and not least the Boys Guild flourished and contributed
much to the life of the community.This remained
true during and after the Second World War. These
years too, saw the fruits of the faith,courage and
sheer hard work of the Irish and Lithuanian navvies,
miners steel men and railmen whose hard-earned coppers
had built Holy Family church and school, as their
children and grandchildren began to play a more
prominent part in the professions and the life of
the local community. Teaching, law medicine, music
and politics local and national, not to mention
football-at all levels, are only some of the fields
where parishioners distinguished themselves. Well
known, too, is the proud record of the parish in
vocations to the priesthood and the religious life.
The post-war years
saw a great increase in the building of new churches
and the erection of new parishes. In 1946 St John
Bosco's, New Stevenson was established and three
years later Sacred Heart, Bellshill. This and the
subsequent building of the Sacred Heart school in
1959 obviously led to a great reduction in the size
of Holy Family parish and the school roll.
Today our numbers
are further reduced. Our children still receive
a sound preparation for adult life In recent years
a fair number of young families have taken up residence
in the parish, giving new hope of life in the future.
We pray that we may face that future in the same
spirit as our forefathers confident that, with God's
continued help and our efforts, his work in Mossend
may be accomplished for many years to come. |
