St. Vincent de Paul

Introduction

The church was modelled on the Romanesque Church of the English Martyrs in York. The church was designed to hold 350 people.

History

By 1896 Mass was being said for the people of Newland by the Parish Priest from St Charles'. By 1906 the parish had two resident priests, Fr James Butler, P.P. and Fr P Kennedy, curate. The foundation stone was laid on Sunday 1 May 1932. Despite the devastation of war all around the church, it survived the war intact.

In the late 1960s serious cracks began to appear and by 1971 the parish priest had instigated major structural repairs. Since 2010 the church has been re-wired, with major repairs to the roof and the tower, and the sanctuary and sacristy re-decorated. Quibells were the builders and the agreed cost was £9,000. The new church was opened with a candle lit procession from the old church on the evening of 27 March 1933.

Architecture and furnishings

Jopling & Wright designed this brick church with brick dressings and pantile roofs in Romanesque style, built in 1932. The church comprises a nave with clerestorey and chancel under a continuous roof, aisles with internal chapels, porches, vestry, and a campanile to the south-west. The clerestorey has seven round-headed windows on each side. The eastern apse features a dentillated eaves cornice and narrow flat-headed windows on either side.

The west end has a tall rebated round-arched recess with a stained-glass window, and below it a shallow gabled porch with a pair of composite columns. The porch has a round arched recess with a pair of panelled glazed doors with metal grilles, and above the enriched lintel, a coat of arms in the tympanum. In the left return angle is a half-round stair turret with slit windows. The south aisle, linked to the campanile by a coped porch, has cogged eaves and a coped parapet.

The interior has moulded arches without piers to the single bay chancel and to the half-domed apse. The interior has five-bay arcades with round ashlar piers and cushion capitals, and moulded brick round arches with linked hoodmoulds. The nave and chancel have a painted waggon roof on corbels. The west end has a rebated round arch containing the organ and spanned by a bow-fronted gallery.

The aisles have strutted lean-to roofs and windows with patterned stained glass. The south aisle has a Lady Chapel to the east, with an altar flanked by stained-glass windows and a squint into the chancel. The Chapel of St Vincent at the west end has a wooden altar with figure and a stained-glass war memorial window. Fittings include an eggcup font on a cruciform stand, panelled wooden lectern and wooden benches with shaped ends.

The large crucifix in the sanctuary is known as the Oppy Wood Cross. The Humber Bridge is shown in the window put in to mark the Diamond Jubilee of the present church. The three altars all have mosaics and there is a large mosaic of St Vincent at the side entrance. The war memorial plates are in St Vincent's Chapel.

Music and liturgy

The church provides a Children's Liturgy. Ministers of the Word have been commissioned and re-commissioned.

Fr James Butler, parish priest from 1904 to 1919, possessed a fine singing voice. Fr Gabriel Redmond, parish priest from 1936 to 1958, was a brilliant pianist.

Regular events

The church takes part in the Hull Heritage Open Days each year, opening to the public on two days in September. Holy Communion Catechists teach children in preparation for First Holy Communion, with classes on Wednesday and Thursday evenings. The parish runs the Alpha Course for those wondering about Christianity.

Sacraments and pastoral care

The parish runs Open Door, a series of meetings for Catholics considering returning home to the church. The parish offers courses, seminars and day conferences aimed at adults and teenagers who want to explore and widen their knowledge of the faith and/or explore their spirituality.

The parish participates in the diocesan Catechist Formation Pathway 2 programme for experienced catechists. The parish has a Children's Offertory in which children bring gifts to the altar. The Hull SVP hosts a Scripture and Prayer Meeting on the theme of the Transfiguration. A Student Mass is held at the chaplaincy for students and university staff only.

Visiting

The parish offers Baptism preparation courses for parents who have requested Baptism for their children. The solid stone altar has a front depicting two deer drinking from a seven-streamed fountain, symbolising the seven sacraments. A Eucharistic ministers session is offered.