The Channel Islands in Diocese of Portsmouth – Part 4

Fr. Mahy installed as Dean of Jersey by Bishop Warlock,
St. Mary and St. Peter's, 1975.

This week’s history comes from the “Diocese of Portsmouth: Past and Present” by Gerard Dwyer published in 1981, and looks at the history of Catholics in Jersey after the Reformation to the early1980s.

The Channel Islands in Diocese of Portsmouth – Part 4

At the beginning of January 1843 the church in Vauxhall Street was opened and a month later it was consecrated by Bishop Griffiths. According to the "Handbook of the Channel Islands" by F. Coghlan (London, 1843), "Religion in Jersey is essentially Protestant. There is, however, a yearly increase of Catholics, principally Irish and foreigners. Their number amounts to between two and three thousand."

Because of the Irish Famine 1845-47, this number was doubled. Work on the naval harbours and breakwaters in Jersey and Alderney had just started and labour was needed. The Government gave free passage; the work was constant and the wages good. From the district around Waterford alone 4,000 people came to Jersey. The congregation increased to such an extent that the existing church became completely inadequate for its congregation.

 In 1848 Fr. Cunningham died and was succeeded by Fr. Jeremiah McCarthy who remained priest in charge for not less than 45 years. When in 1850 the English Hierarchy was restored and the Channel Islands became part of the Diocese of Southwark, Fr. McCarthy was given the position and title of "Dean of St. Anne of the Isles."

In July 1851 Cardinal Wiseman, Archbishop of Westminster, visited first Guernsey (for the opening of the new St. Joseph's Church) and then Jersey. Wilfred Ward in his “Life and Times of Cardinal Wiseman" writes: "He paid a visit to Jersey in 1851 where he was received with brickbats, the windows of his carriage were broken and his progress impeded by a howling mob as he drove to the Catholic church where he was to preach. A crowd of Protestants came to hear him, and the English directness and common sense of his discourse so won them that a complete reversion took place."

The "Impartial de Jersey" reported on 5th July 1851: "We regret, for the honour of our brothers and neighbours in Guernsey, to learn that not only when he arrived, but also during his stay in their Island, they forgot all points of good behaviour.... Underneath his purple robe is one of the first and most learned collaborators of the magazine called the 'Penny Encyclopaedia.'. . . As for us, we do not care what colour he wears, whether it be black, red or blue. We are proud to say, that without sharing his views, we admired this learned writer, a man of strong convictions. If we heard one lone voice echoing the cries of the children in the streets 'what a hat!, what gloves!' we had great pleasure in noting that it was not the voice of a Jerseyman, but of a foreigner."

The same paper continued its report on 9th July:

"At three o'clock in the afternoon, the Cardinal also administered the Sacrament of Confirmation in the French chapel in New Street. He preached in French, surprising us all with the ease and purity with which this learned Doctor of Divinity speaks the language, a language that is not his own."

Year after year up to 1870 the number of parishioners was increasing. Fr. McCarthy had plans drawn up by Mr. Joseph Hanson for a new church. Bishop Grant opened the new church on 8th August 1867. It was incomplete when opened - the intention being to complete it as soon as possible. But in the 1870s a terrible financial and banking crisis overwhelmed the Island causing great distress and an

almost entire cessation of employment. Many people emigrated to the United States, Canada and Australia, and the prosperous congregation of some 4,000 was reduced almost overnight to just over 1,000 with comparatively little work and greatly reduced wages. Fr. McCarthy did not lose heart; but it took 24 years before the chancel and the transepts could be completed in September 1891. Two years later, in June 1893, Mgr. Jeremiah McCarthy (he had been made a Papal Prelate on the completion of the church) died.

The next parish priest, Fr. John Hourigan, remained at St. Mary and St. Peter's for 38 years. He paid off the debt on the church and so was able to have it consecrated by Bishop Cotter, then Auxiliary Bishop of Portsmouth, in 1905. He was appointed a Canon of the Diocese in 1916, and in 1925 he beautified the sanctuary of the church with a new altar. Canon Hourigan died at this brother's home in Ireland in 1931.

Canon Clifford Bailey succeeded as parish priest. He was no stranger to the Channel Islands having been for over 25 years parish priest of Alderney. Canon Bailey died in April 1940, just a few months before the Germans occupied the Islands. Two priests, Fr. Richard Arscott and Fr. Albert Lion, both Channel Islanders, were in the running for the succession. Bishop Cotter chose Fr. Arscott who, as Canon Arscott, remained in charge of the parish all during the Occupation.

After the Second World War, Canon Arscott joined the Catholic Missionary Society in 1946, thus allowing Canon Lion to get his heart's desire and succeed him. But ill health soon forced Canon Lion to retire in 1948. He was followed by Canon Arthur Olney who remained for 27 years and who, after 25 years in the parish, was made a Papal Prelate of Honour.

Mgr. Olney by 1965 had taken down the old church which had been used as a hall and had given a porch and facade to the west end of the main church with a forecourt opening on to Vauxhall. Mgr. Olney left Jersey for retirement but very soon took up parish duties once again at Shrivenham.

The present parish priest of St. Mary and St. Peter's is Fr. David Mahy who has to consider the need for very considerable repairs to the church or more practically its replacement by a new church on another site.

To complete the picture of the parish and its growth, a Mass Centre was started in 1943, in the early days of the Occupation, at Samares in the Parish of St. Clement. A church was built dedicated to St. Patrick and in 1968 it was formed into a separate Catholic parish. Since then a presbytery and hall have been added.

In November 1949 another Mass Centre was started at First Tower, but in August 1955 there was a change of parish boundaries and the Oblates at St. Aubin took over responsibility for the First Tower and Millbrook area where shortly afterwards they built the Church of Our Lady of the Universe.

The Jesuits in Jersey

No Catholic history of Jersey would be complete without a mention of the Jesuits. During the first half of the nineteenth century the French Jesuits made several attempts to buy property in Jersey with the intention of transferring their schools there should they be forbidden to teach in France. Each time the States of Jersey refused them permission to buy.

In 1880 they tried again when the Imperial Hotel in Jersey was for sale. The Jesuits first approached the Bishop of the Diocese then Southwark), Bishop Danell, and asked permission to open a house in his diocese.

First of all he refused because he feared that the arrival of the Jesuits would arouse the anti-Catholic prejudices of the Jersey Protestants, but Fr. McCarthy, the Parish Priest of St. Mary and St. Peter, sent a strongly worded letter to him which changed his mind. Because foreigners were not allowed to purchase any portion of Jersey soil, the English Jesuit Province bought the property with Fr. McCarthy acting as proxy for them.

Thus began Maison St. Louis. Between 1881 and 1940, when the Jesuits finally returned to France, some 3,000 students had spent at least three years of their training in the College. They came from all over the world - England, Ireland, America, France, etc. Twelve of them became Bishops, and some 600 went on to do missionary work in China and Africa. One famous priest who spent three years there was Pere Teillard de Chardin. After the Second World War the property was put on the market and was eventually sold to become, as it still remains, the "Hotel de France."

In addition to Maison St. Louis, the French Jesuits acquired a nearby property called "Highlands." There they built a large building and to it transferred their French Naval Preparatory School. Many high-ranking French naval officers were trained there between 1881 and 1900 after which, because of a law passed in the French Parliament, the school had to return to France.

In 1903, however, the building became a French Jesuit Secondary School called "Bon Secours College." A thousand young Frenchmen received their secondary education there between 1903 and 1919. In 1919 the Jesuits left "Highlands." The property was bought by the De Lammenais Brothers who used it as their Novitiate and Training College, as well as their Generalate. But in the late 1960s the Brothers moved their Generalate to Rome and sold the property to the States of Jersey who now use it as an education centre.

Religious Houses of Brothers and Sisters

The De La Salle Brothers conduct a flourishing independent school for boys at "The Beeches" and the Sisters of the Immaculate Conception a similar one for girls at Beaulieu Convent (originally a Convent of the Helpers of the Holy Souls before they gave it up after the Second World War).

As has been noted before, the Faithful Companions of Jesus moved their convent and school from David Place in St. Helier to Granville in St. Saviour's. In very recent times they have given up their senior school in order to be able to provide in conjunction with the Diocese an opportunity for Catholic primary education to all the children of the Island who wish to benefit from it.

The elderly have been cared for since 1886 by the Little Sisters of the Poor in the Convent and St. Augustine's Home on West Hill. In recent years this Home has been almost completely rebuilt and thoroughly modernised to meet the needs of the elderly who are there.

Finally, there is the community of Sisters of the Holy Family who came in 1901 to open the Orphanage of the Sacred Heart in Rouge Bouillon; today they run a playschool and do pastoral work in St. Thomas' Parish.

St Patrick's, Jersey

The Channel Islands in Diocese of Portsmouth – Part 3

Cardinal Heenan lays the foundation stone of St. Bernadette
, Jersey, with Fr. O 'Regan O. M. I.  (left) and Canon Olney (right).
Lay members Mr and Mrs Leo Kelly

This week’s history comes from the “Diocese of Portsmouth: Past and Present” by Gerard Dwyer published in 1981, and looks at the history of Catholics in Jersey after the Reformation to the early 1980s.

The Channel Islands in Diocese of Portsmouth – Part 3

The Parishes of St. Matthew's and St. Aubin's

It was Fr. Volkerick of St. Thomas' who built out in the country the Church of St. Matthew in honour of Matthew de Gruchy. It was opened in 1872 in the presence of Bishop Danell of Southwark and Bishop Fournier of Rennes. For 10 years the Mission was served from St. Thomas' but because it had no resident priest it was not very successful.

In 1882, just after the foundation of the new Diocese of Portsmouth, Bishop Vertue gave the French Oblates charge of the Mission. The Mission revived and from it came the chapel of St. John and St. Anthony at Ville-a-I'Eveque in Trinity Parish and the chapel of St. Anne in St. Ouen's Parish; these still remain centres within St. Matthew's Parish.

A new granite Church of the Sacred Heart at St. Aubin was begun just at the outbreak of the Second World War and was completed and opened in June 1947. A small chapel dedicated to the Immaculate Conception was provided near St. Peter's and a larger one dedicated to St. Therese at La Moye. Both of these were later closed (the former because it was on land needed for the extension of the airport) and replaced in 1972 by the fine modern church of St. Bernadette in Les Quennevais Estate, the foundation stone of which was laid by Cardinal Heenan of Westminster during a visit to the Island.

Both of these parishes (St. Matthew's and the Sacred Heart) were handed over to the Irish Oblates in 1952. However, in 1981, St. Matthew's Parish became the responsibility of the Diocesan Clergy.

 The Parish of Our Lady at St. Martin's

In 1847 a French priest, Fr. Hallum from Bordeaux, settled in the Island. He built a small school and chapel in Faldouet which he called "Notre Dame de St. Martin."

Although in an unofficial capacity, he worked there for about eight years. In 1851 the parishioners sent a petition to Bishop Grant of Southwark asking for a priest sent to look after them. The petition was signed by 350 French and 200 Irish Jersey, with Fr. persons. The Irish had come to the Island because of the famine in Ireland and were working on the construction of St. Catherine's Harbour, the foundation stone of which bears the date of 1851.

Evidently Bishop Grant, who had only just taken over the newly formed Diocese of Southwark, was unable to grant their request. On 15^th April 1855 Fr. Hallum wrote again to say that he was leaving the Island. As no priest arrived, on 16th October another petition was prepared and signed "Benoit." It was addressed to the French Emperor, Napoleon III, stating how French Catholics were abandoned to their own devices in the eastern part of Jersey. This petition was transmitted to the Archbishop of Paris who in his turn forwarded it to the Bishop of Southwark.

Most probably this "Benoit" had drawn-up and signed the petition in ignorance of what had already been done by Bishop Grant. On 17th September 1856 he had already named Fr. Joseph Guiramand, a priest from the Diocese of Avignon, a former chaplain in the French Army and a Chevallier of the Legion of Honour, as priest in charge of the Catholic Mission of Our Lady and St. Martin. This priest was already 65 years old, and he was taking on no easy task.

We know from a letter written to Bishop Grant that when he arrived at St. Martin's there was nothing

there not even an altar-stone. He lodged first at No. 10 Duhamel Street, St. Helier.

By the following September he had reconstructed and blessed Fr. Hallum's old church and found a place in which to live in St. Martin's. In time the congregation increased and a larger church became necessary. But where was the money to come from? The parishioners were poor working men and a few retired people.

The only hope was to beg. Fr. Guiramand wrote to all the Bishops of France. We know that the Bishop of Besancon sent his offering through Bishop Grant. The Bishop of Coutances allowed a collection to be taken throughout his diocese, and a collection was also taken in most of the larger churches in Paris by permission of the Archbishop. The Queen of Portugal sent £20; the French Emperor, Napoleon III, sent a beautiful monstrance and a set of the Stations of the Cross. By September 1862 the foundations of this new church, to be dedicated to Our Lady and the Martyrs of Japan, had been laid. In February 1863 the church was blessed and opened by Bishop Grant, the sermon being preached by Mgr. Bracart, Bishop of Coutances.

Fr. Guiramand worked in the parish for 26 years until his death at the age of 89 in September 1882. He was succeeded by Fr. Tardivon who died after two years. The Jesuits then took care of the Mission until 1884. In that year Bishop Vertue of Portsmouth asked the French Oblates to take over the parish. This they did until 1960 when they handed it over to the care of the priests of the Anglo-Irish Province of Oblates who are still in residence.

The history of the parish under the French Oblates is a story of valiant efforts to provide Catholic schools. The Dames de St. Andre were a great help by building a large school for girls. In 1893 St. Joseph's, Grouville, was opened as a school chapel and though renovated continues in use until today. But all the schools had to close eventually because of Jersey Law.

Within the parish a tiny chapel dedicated to the Assumption was opened in Gorey Village in 1903. In more recent times this was replaced by the purchase of a building stone of nearby which had started life as a non-Conformist chapel, then been adapted to become a cinema and finally was turned into a Catholic church.

 The Irish Mission in Jersey: St. Mary and St. Peter's Church

Fr. Francis Isherwood, whilst an assistant priest in Jersey in the early 1970s, wrote an extensive account of Catholicism in the Island. The heading of this section has been taken from his account of the parish of St. Mary and St. Peter which appeared in the Jersey Catholic Record of July 1974.

At the beginning of the nineteenth century the building of Fort Regent brought a number of Irish labourers to Jersey. At first they went to Mass in the French chapel in Castle Street. From 1811 to 1821 separate registers were kept for the French- and English-speaking communities. Within a few years the numbers of Irish had grown so much that the chapel in Castle Street had become too small for both communities.

The Irish and French did not get on too well together perhaps it was a problem of language - complaining that each would not make way for the other. The Irish complained to Bishop Poynter of the London District. In 1821 Fr. J. Carroll arrived, and in 1826 he built a chapel off Hue Street in St. Helier. Unfortunately the chapel had to be sold the following year: the money to build it had been borrowed and the mortgage could not be repaid.

In September 1829 Fr. Matthew Ryan came to Jersey; Hue Street chapel was re-acquired and put to its original use. Ten years later the chapel had become too small for the congregation and the priest in charge, Fr. John Cunningham, decided that a bigger church would have to be built. A new site was found in Vauxhall Street, and the foundation stone was laid on Wednesday, 13th October 1841.

The stone has a brass plaque with the following inscription (in Latin):

 The Foundation Stone of this Church, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, was laid by Wm. Burke Esq. in the year of Our Lord 1841, The Right Rev. Thomas Griffiths, Bishop of Oleno, being Vicar Apostolic of the London District, the Rev. J. Cunningham being Pastor and James Parkinson the Architect.

The Channel Islands in Diocese of Portsmouth - Part 2

St Thomas before Vatican II changes

This week’s history comes from the “Diocese of Portsmouth: Past and Present” by Gerard Dwyer published in 1981, and looks at the history of Catholics in Jersey after the Reformation to the early 1980s.

The Channel Islands in Diocese of Portsmouth – Part 2

Jersey

It would seem that between the English and French Revolutions the Catholic religion was non-existent in the Islands. The extinction of Catholicism at the Reformation produced no Catholic martyr; but its revival at the end of the eighteenth century in France produced one in the person of Matthew de Gruchy. He was born in Jersey in 1761. As a young man he ran away to sea, joined the navy, took part in the war against France, was captured by the French and imprisoned.

At Angers Matthew was used as an interpreter in the hospital where there were many English prisoners. Some of these were Catholics (many Irish used to join the army or navy), and the local Bishop sent an Irish priest, Fr. Drady, to look after the Catholics. Fr. Drady instructed Matthew in the Faith and received him into the Church on 23rd July 1780. In June 1782 peace was signed and de Gruchy became a free man. A local parish priest took an interest in him and eventually had him accepted by the Bishop of Lucon as a candidate for the priesthood. He was ordained on Easter Eve 1788.

The following year the French Revolution began with the fall of the Bastille. In 1792 all priests who refused to take the Oath laid down by the "Civil Constitution of the Clergy" were ordered to leave the country. Great numbers went to England and to the Channel Islands. In Jersey there were three Bishops and 3,000 priests. Matthew decided to go home. When his relations discovered that he was a Catholic priest they were horrified, and he had to leave the Island.

After a visit to London he returned to Jersey. He was called-up to join the Militia; he refused to bear arms and was again exiled. He returned home once again, but the States of Jersey, under the influence of the Anglican Rectors, made his stay impossible. In February 1795 we find him in Southampton working among the French prisoners-of-war and 30 Irish soldiers who were in hospital.

When La Vendee rose against the revolutionaries, Matthew decided to go there. For two years he lived in terrible conditions, hunted by the soldiery with a price on his head. In 1797 he was arrested in Nantes and condemned to death. We possess his last letter to his mother, written in the Bouffay Prison at Nantes: "... I offer Him the sacrifice of my life. I ask Him to accept it as a reparation for my sins and that He may be pleased in his mercy to grant you also, to my sisters and whole family, the grace of conversion “Next day he was shot. The first volley did not hit him; neither did the second: so they put a rifle to his head and blew out his brains. His name is among the 125 martyrs whose beatification has been petitioned for at Rome by the Diocese of Nantes.

Catholicism makes a comeback in Jersey - St. Thomas's

Between 1790 and 1793 great numbers of French émigrés, both priests and laity, poured into Jersey. Almost overnight the town of St. Helier doubled its size. The Governor gave permission for the opening of four chapels for private worship St. Malo with Fr. John Le Saout, St. Louis with Fr. Peter Derbree, Our Lady with Fr. Le Roussel de Vaucelles, and the Sacred Heart with Fr. de la Chateigneraye.

As well as the French emigrants there were also some Irish soldiers garrisoned on the Island. They too were given permission to attend Mass in these chapels. From these two sources- French émigrés and Irish immigrants - came the revival of Catholicism in the Island.

Gradually the émigrés returned to France and the four Mass centres were closed. In September 1803 an old flour loft was rented in Castle Street, access being gained by means of a ladder. This new Catholic chapel was known as "Les Mielles" and was dedicated to St. Louis. The first priest in charge was a Fr. Philibert. He was succeeded in 1807 by Fr. Charles de Grimouville (who, as we saw above, was also appointed Vicar General for the Islands) who died in 1817 having been named Bishop-Elect of St. Malo.

The Mission continued to be served by French priests: Fr.' Le Guedois from 1822 to 1836 and then, after a lapse of nine months when there were no priests, Fr. Morlais. In 1842 Fr. Morlais bought an Anabaptist chapel in New Street which he dedicated to St. Thomas the Apostle in memory of Bishop Griffiths, the Vicar Apostolic of the London District, who had helped so much in its foundation.

After 23 years of hard work Fr. Morlais retired in 1860. A Belgian priest, Fr. Volkerick, took charge in October 1860. Helped by rich families in Belgium and France he was able to bring the De La Salle Brothers and the Dames de St. Andre to the Island. The Brothers left Jersey in 1896 but came back again in 1917, and the following year opened their house and school at The Beeches, where they still remain today. The Dames de St. Andre came in July 1863. They opened a school first in Duhamel Street, and then they build a magnificent granite convent in David Place. These nuns opened schools at St. Matthew's, and in the parishes of St. Martin's, St. Aubin's, St. Ouen's and St. John's. These schools were used for Mass on Sundays, and from them grew the Catholic churches and parishes in these parts. The Dames de St. Andre remained in Jersey until 1911.

For 10 years previously there had been a struggle to keep open their schools. The States of Jersey demanded that all teachers should have an English Teaching Certificate. The nuns did not have these, so they invited other Sisters, the Faithful Companions of Jesus (F.C.J.) to take over their two schools in Val Plaisant and at St. Matthew's. The latter was eventually closed, but in David Place the F.C.J.'s built up a fine school. However, in 1967, the premises had become too small, so the Sisters built a new school at Grainville Manor where they still continue to live and teach.

In 1870 the Catholic population of St. Helier had reached such proportions that St. Thomas' Chapel was not able to cope with the crowds. Fr. Volkerick bought land for a new and larger church in Val Plaisant. He began collecting money and by 1879 he had collected 50,000 francs. In that year Fr. Volkerick was called to work in England, and in the following year Bishop Danell of Southwark offered the Mission to the French Oblates of Mary Immaculate.

The latter gratefully accepted the offer as they had just been expelled from France and were looking for a new home. The Oblates lost no time in continuing the work of collecting money for the new church. Fr. Michaud, a noted fund-raiser of the day, was put in charge of the project. Within two years, on Thursday 6th September 1883, the foundation stone was laid by the Bishop of the newly-erected Diocese of Portsmouth, Bishop Vertue, in the presence of his Vicar General, Mgr. Cahill, the Catholic Dean of Jersey, Fr. McCarthy, and the former parish priest of St. Thomas', Fr. Volkerick.

The church, which is a fine example of nineteenth century French Gothic architecture (known locally by the older people as "La Cathedrale"), took four years to build and was to be opened on 30th October 1887.

The night before a tempest blew. About midnight it became so violent that everything shook; the windows of both transepts were blown in and fell to the ground inside the church. Many others in the nave were loosened. The scaffolding around the tower was in danger of collapsing and crashing down on the neighbouring houses; it was a miracle that this did not happen. At about 4 o'clock in the morning the priests were able to get into the church. It was swimming with water and bits of glass lay everywhere. They set to work and by 10.30 a.m. all was ready for the blessing of the new church which was performed by Fr. Rey, Provincial of the Oblates, followed by the first Mass therein.

In 1977 the present Rector of St. Thomas', Fr. Jean-Marie Chuffart, undertook a complete restoration of the outer fabric of the church. At the present time work on the inside has begun; this will restore the full beauty of the church's architecture and provide a worthy sanctuary within it.

On 13th May 1979 a statue of Our Lady of Fatima, provided by the large Portuguese community which now uses St. Thomas', was carried through the streets in procession and enshrined in the church by the Bishop of Funchal (Madeira).

On the evening of Ascension Day, 28th May 1981, a concelebrated Mass of Thanksgiving, presided over by Mgr. Lawrence, Episcopal Vicar for the Channel Islands (as the Bishop of Portsmouth, due to fog, was unable to land in Jersey that afternoon), was offered in St. Thomas' Church to celebrate the centenary of the Oblate Fathers' arrival in Jersey.

The Channel Islands in Diocese of Portsmouth – Part 1

Mgr. Lawrence, Episcopal Vicar of the Channel Islands
 with Bishop Emery and Canon Lecluze (left).

This week’s history comes from the “Diocese of Portsmouth: Past and Present” by Gerard Dwyer published in 1981, and looks at the history of Catholics in Jersey after the Reformation to the early1980s.

The Channel Islands in Diocese of Portsmouth – Part 1

CHAPTER 16

The Channel Islands

All through the Middle Ages the Channel Islands formed part of the French Diocese of Coutances. On 28th October 1496 King Henry VII, the first of the Tudors, requested Pope Alexander VI to transfer them to Salisbury. Three years later he asked to have them transferred to the Diocese of Winchester. The Pope did as Henry asked but the Pope's Bull had no effect.

Right up to the reign of Elizabeth I, the Bishop of Coutances exercised jurisdiction over the Islands. In 1569 the then Bishop of Coutances was on a diplomatic mission in London. He complained that the dues from the Islands' Deaneries were not forthcoming.

The Privy Council unearthed the Bull and the Royal Letter of 1499; an Order in Council of 11th March 1569 executed the separation of the Islands from the Diocese of Coutances and placed them under the jurisdiction of the Anglican Bishop of Winchester but once again the order had no effect. The authority of the Bishop of Winchester was completely ignored owing to the fact that Presbyterian discipline and church government were firmly established in the Islands. It was in fact 1818 before the Anglican form of Confirmation was administered for the first time by Dr. Fisher, Bishop of Salisbury, as the Bishop of Winchester was not well enough to do so. The Islands then had to wait until 1829 to receive the first Episcopal visitation from their Anglican Bishop, Dr. Sumner of Winchester.

When the Church in England was placed by Rome under the care of Vicars Apostolic, the Channel Islands were looked after by the Vicar Apostolic of the London District (although it is not clear if they were ever formally included in the territory of his jurisdiction). Bishop Douglass, who was Vicar Apostolic from 1790 to 1812, appointed in 1807 Fr. Charles de Grimouville, an English-speaking priest in charge in Jersey, as Vicar General for Catholic administration in the Channel Islands; in 1817 he was nominated Bishop of St. Malo, but died that same year before being consecrated. The post of Vicar General does not appear to have been continued.

In Pope Pius IX's Letters Apostolic restoring the English Hierarchy in 1850, "the islands of Jersey, Guernsey and other adjacent" are included under the Diocese of Southwark. When Southwark was divided by the Letters Apostolic of Pope Leo XIII in 1882, the new Diocese of Portsmouth contained "those Islands in the English Channel (seu le Manche) appertaining to the English Crown."

During the Second World War the Church in the Channel Islands was completely cut-off from the rest of the Diocese due to the German Occupation of the Islands. Bishop King solved the problem of administering this part of the Diocese by appointing Canon Hickey, Parish Priest of St. Joseph's, Guernsey, as his Vicar General for the Channel Islands. This fact was made known to Guernsey seemingly through Ireland and the Vichy Government, but it appears that news of it did not reach Jersey until after the war.

After the Occupation, Mgr. Hickey continued to hold this post until his death in 1952, following which the Islands returned to direct administration from Portsmouth (or Winchester, as the Bishop lived there). In 1978 the present Bishop of Portsmouth, Rt. Rev. A. Emery, appointed Mgr. Canon Raymond Lawrence as Parish Priest of St. Joseph's, Guernsey and Episcopal Vicar for the Channel Islands, granting him all necessary faculties to deal with the normal administration of the Church in the Islands; at the same time he was granted faculties by the Holy See to administer the Sacrament of Confirmation in the Islands when requested by the Bishop to do so. And so today the Channel Islands form an Episcopal Vicariate within the Diocese of Portsmouth.