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 We go back as far as 1825 to find Fr George
Brown living in Catharine Street. He became
the first Bishop of Liverpool on 3 November
1850. Stationed then at the Pro-Cathedral
was Fr James Nugent who was to leave an
indelible impression on the Catholic and
Civic life of the City.
At that time there was an alarming need or
schools. Both Bishop Brown and Fr Nugent
saw that elementary schools were not
sufficient to produce a well-educated laity
capable of taking high office in the City
and so in 1851 they opened a Catholic middle
school in Rodney Street. Early on it became
apparent to Fr Nugent that the accommodation
was cramped and inadequate. He bought some
land in Hope Street and in March 1853 Bishop
Brown laid the cornerstone for the new
school. This school was named “The
Institute” and on 31 October 1853 was
solemnly opened by Cardinal Wiseman. Later
on, John Henry Newman from the Birmingham
Oratory of St Philip Neri visited the
school.
The Parish of St Philip Neri really began at
this point in the Oratory of the Institute.
Its naming was a courtesy gesture to the
Oratorian, Dr Newman. The Rector of the
Institute was also the Parish Priest until
the Christian Brothers took over the
management of the school.
1864 saw the canonical erection of the
parish. The administrators were Dr Henry
O’Brien and Fr Henry Thrower. Then followed
Fathers P Kelly, Thomas Dunne, Thomas
Carroll and Martin Gallagher dating from
1871 to 1887. Fr John Berry then came to
the Parish. He had founded the well-known
Fr Berry’s Homes in Shaw Street, but his
first venture was St Philip’s Home for
Street Trading Boys in Marble Street. Fr
Berry died in 1897 after a lengthy illness
and was succeeded in 1900 by Fr Alfred
Jeanrenaud, popularly known as Fr John. He
remained Parish Priest until his death in
1929. It was during his tenure that the
Institute and Parish were separated and the
church in Hope Street was replaced by a new
church in Catharine Street.
Fr John wanted
the new church to be something a bit
different. During a visit to Venice he
fell in love with St Mark’s and decided to
put a little bit of Venice into Catharine
Street. The building of the present
church commenced just before the First World
War, and after a long suspension, was
finished in 1920. The architect was P.
S. Gilby. Before his death, Fr John had the
satisfaction of seeing the marble and mosaic
decoration in place.
Fr Benedict Cain became Parish Priest on the
death of Fr Jeanrenaud in 1929. The less
spectacular and more unwelcome task of
paying-off the £18,000 debt fell to him.
The building of the Oratory of St Philip
Neri had not been cheap; it cost a total of
£35,000. Amazingly, Fr Cain managed to
remove the entire debt.
In 1939 war broke out once again just as Fr
Cain was planning to put the finishing
touches to the church. Both Fr Cain and his
curate, Fr Fanning, lived and ministered
here during the Blitz. One night a high
explosive dropped in what is now known as
the Spanish Garden wrecked the presbytery
and blew out every window in the church.
Dr John Garvin succeeded Fr Cain in 1945.
He had been on the staff of Upholland
College and the Beda College in Rome. It
was in the early 1950s that he designed and
built the Spanish Garden. He stayed in the
parish until 1965 when he became Parish
Priest of St Mary’s in Aughton.
From 1945 the following priests were
curates: Fathers Billington, Foley, Diggins,
Twomey, Breen, Karalus, Hughes, Baker,
Cunningham, Rowlands, Atherton, Ashton and
Gallagher.
For almost 20 years there was a Polish
Chaplain whose work for the Polish residents
of Merseyside had centred at St Philip
Neri’s where a polish Mass was celebrated
every Sunday at 12 noon. The first Polish
priest was Fr Burdyszech followed by Fr
Sarneta and then Fr Welczak who stayed for
10 years. He was succeeded by Fr
Klementowski.
In 1965 Fr Morgan O’Healy came as Parish
Priest. It was during the time of Fr E
Crowley, 1969-1980, that the number of
priests in the parish was reduced to one.
In 1980 Fr John Taaffe became Parish Priest
and remained here until his death on 6
October 2001. Later that year the parish
was closed and became part of the Cathedral
Parish. All records are now kept at the
Cathedral.
Since that time the Archdiocese of Liverpool
selected the building to be used as the
Catholic Chaplaincy to the University of
Liverpool and Liverpool John Moores
University. Fr Chris McCoy, the Catholic
Chaplain, oversaw the move from Mount
Pleasant in the summer of 2002. In
September 2003 Fr Ian McParland was
appointed as chaplain.
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