The Blessing and Opening of St. Bernadette's Les Quennevais

St. Bernadette's church was built at Les Quennevais to replace chapels dedicated to St Teresa and Our Lady of Lourdes, which were situated at La Moye and St Ouen, and a chapel at St Peter, which was lost when the airport runway was extended.

The foundation stone of St Bernadette was laid by Cardinal Heenan in June 1971 and it was opened in September 1972 by Bishop Derek Worlock. The church currently seats over 300 people. During the 1980s a hall was built attached to the church. This hall was opened by Bishop Crispian Hollis in May 1990.

The Blessing and Opening of St. Bernadette's Les Quennevais
by Leo Harris.
(From Jersey Catholic Record, October 1972)

A congregation estimated at five hundred people were present on Sunday September 10 to see our Bishop, the Reverend Derek Worlock bless and open the newly erected church dedicated to St. Bernadette. 

Among those present was the Bailiff of Jersey, Sir Robert Le Masurier, Lt. Commander de las Casas representing the Governor, the Vice-Dean of Jersey and States members. The Constables of St. Brelade, St. Peter and St. Lawrence were also among our distinguished guests as well as representatives of nearly every religious persuasion on the Island.

It was singularly appropriate that the Bishop should have arrived to open the church directly from his visit to Lourdes and he stressed this in his sermon preached during the first Mass which followed the blessing of the external and internal boundaries of the building itself. 

The impression of space and light in this crowded church had to be experienced to be believed and is a further tribute to the architect, Mr. Richards who has given us a worthy yet modern building to be the centre of our worship in this district.

Now let us make full use of our new church and should you visit it in the near future perhaps you would say a prayer for all those who have made this all a reality and whose names are too numerous to mention here.

New Church of St. Bernadette by Father J. O'Regan

New Church of St. Bernadette 

by Father J. O'Regan
from Jersey Catholic Record, 1972

Ah Bob! a job well done!

As time flies and the opening day looms nearer, I wish to express my sincere thanks and appreciation to Bob Le Clercq, foreman of J. Troy and Sons, Jersey Builders, for the care and devoted interest expended on our new church project, and expert attention to 'all things great and small' connected with the building.

I admire him most of all for his patience and tolerance with personnel problems, weather interference, and the non-arrival of materials due to strikes, go-slows and slipping clutches, not forgetting the late arrival and survivals.

The Two `Derricks'

Once upon a cold and frosty day, the troubled sea chaffing with La Rocco, our Bishop Derek arrived on the site to appraise the progress of the project. Since his consecration as Bishop of Portsmouth in 1965 on a wintry day, he has experienced his fair share of rough weather in these islands. He has also since that day `hoisted' many a new church including St. Bernadette's `in between' St. Peter and La Moye for the mutual benefit of these districts, and which has received its fair share of advice and fatherly concern. 

Our picture shows our Bishop Derek overlooking nothing and noting everything with his shepherd's eye, and perhaps recalling the day when he decided, as the Davidic psalmist expresses it (Ps. 79) to `transplant the Vine out of Egypt', closing Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, St. Peter's and St. Teresa's, La Moye-so that in Les Quennevais, `in this chosen place, the name of the Lord would be blessed for evermore, and endure like the sun; and every family shall be blessed in him, and all the nations shall bless his name.' 

Not far away, but out of our picture, a noisy derrick was hard at work hoisting up the materials of the new House of God, and appropriately enough, sporting a scarlet coloured cowl sixty feet up.

Derek's every wish became for our own versatile derrick a command, with fingertip obedience. 

The Walls of Troy !

Our second picture reflects the persevering labours of all concerned. With apologies to the few classical scholars still about, for the liberal use of the accommodated sense of interpretation, we see the new struggle for the walls as a reflection of the Trojan war. The Homeric Epic, with all its drama of trial, endeavour, love and battle which gave rise to the ancient Dunasian adage, pregnant with a depth of human analysis of experience of human nature: `cherchez Ia femme' has a certain similitude here.

Alexander (the saviour) renamed Paris, son of Priam and Hecuba, and grandson of Hercules, needed all his inborn ancestral traits to help him deal with some of the goddesses, especially Evis (strife) and Ate (troublemaker). Illion-Aeneid of Homer, poet of Troy, recalls the needs, deeds and greeds of the gods.

Helen of Troy, whose face launched a thousand ships and caused twelve thousand ships to cross the Agean Sea to rescue her from the Homeric City near the sea, in Asia Minor. The key note was the great interest all had for Helen, the source of all their joy and woe, and the Walls of Troy, which held her captive.

Our struggle for St. Bernadette's has also been a testing epic: to find a suitable site, at a reasonable price; to find sufficient capital; to beg and borrow, to press on in search or permissions, approvals and alterations, adaptions; to find God-sent helpers, advisers and benefactors.

Helen of Troy, wife of Menalaus, the king of Sparta, daughter of Zeus and Leda, may never have existed save in the erudite mind of a Grecian scholar, but our St. Bernadette's, though now only inanimate materials, will become a 'temple of the living God', and all its cost, in terms of cash, human effort and anxiety, will be repaid a thousand times and more, when within these new 'Walls of Troy', the adorable sacrifice of the Mass will be offered for the first time.

Our people will share in the presence of the Lord, and hear His word-the Gospel-the Good News of Redemption- a scriptural Aeneid with all the chosen coin of fancy, flashing out from many a golden phrase'; they will share too in the 'Supper of the Lord', and relish a joy the ancient Greeks never had-`far away on the ringing plains of windy Troy,' the joy of having our God with us - Emmanuel.

We have a new church raised up for the Lord at Les Quennevais, but as St. Paul writes to the Ephesians (2.7) `He has raised us up . .. that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus'.

The Helpers of the Holy Souls in Jersey

The Society of Helpers, formerly known as the Society of the Helpers of the Holy Souls, is a Roman Catholic religious congregation of women founded in Paris, France in 1856, with the objective of assisting the souls in Purgatory through their service to the needy of the world. The Sisters use the postnominal initials of "A.P." (French: Auxiliatrices des âmes du purgatoire) in Europe, or, alternately, "H.H.S" in English-speaking countries.

The Helpers of the Holy Souls in Jersey (1880- 1950)-by one of the Helpers
from Jersey Catholic Record, 1972

The Helpers of the Holy Souls came to Beaulieu, Jersey, in June 1880. Owing to the anti-clerical laws in France it was deemed necessary to seek refuge abroad in case of expulsion of religious orders. So together with several other orders, the Helpers pitched their tent on the hill that was later to be known as the Holy Hill'. A noviciate was opened in 1885, and was known as the `Noviciate of the Missions'.

There were forty novices in 1919 when it was decided to transfer this noviciate to San Remo, Italy. The English novices had already been sent in the same year to London to form the English Noviciate.

Their Work in Jersey

The sisters gave religious instruction daily in three Protestant schools, St. Luke's, St. Saviour's and Halkett Place and also in three Catholic schools, St. Thomas, Vauxhall and the Faithful Companions of Jesus.

Strange as this may seem, the Faithful Companions were not allowed then to teach religion in their own school! They also tended the sick in their own homes and visited families throughout the Island, caring freely for the poor and needy and looking after the needs of the dying.

Many adult converts were instructed throughout the years and the Sisters were also engaged in various parish activities, including meetings for children and young people, Children of Mary and adults of all ages. These meetings were in a certain sense 'doubled' owing to the French and English sections of the population. The large hospital in St. Helier was also visited regularly.

Association of Prayer

Devotion to Blessed Mary of Providence, the foundress, spread in the Island and many joined her Association of Prayer for the Holy Souls. A monthly Holy Hour for these associates was held in the convent chapel and was always well attended. 

This association of prayer is still kept very much alive in Jersey, thanks to the unflagging efforts of our devoted promoter, Miss Jessica Ahier, who still continues to gather them several times in the year at Beaulieu in spite of the fact that the Helpers left the Island over twenty years ago.

The Sisters in company with the rest of the inhabitants of the Island suffered great deprivation during the last war and their work was much curtailed by the German occupation. In 1950, it was decided that owing to its inaccessibility and that apostolic needs required the Sisters' presence more urgently elsewhere, with great regret the society withdrew them from the Island. 

The Blessed Sacrament however did not leave the chapel, for the Sisters of the Immaculate Conception came to occupy Beaulieu and started a day school for girls which is very flourishing and an asset to the Island.