A brief history

Parish of St Robert of Newminster was founded in 1930, when a church was built in an open field south of Fenham Hall Drive, and Father George O’Neill was installed as the first Parish Priest. Prior to this the Catholic population of the area (estimated at about 100 families) attended Sunday Mass in St Aloysius school, served by priest from St Mary’s Cathedral.

 For twenty-five years the building fulfilled the dual purpose of church and parish hall.   An early (anonymous) gift to the parish was a large solid oak statue of St Robert of Newminster. During these years tremendous efforts were geared to clearing off the debt on the Hall and building up the fund for the new Church.   

Father O'Neill's efforts to raise money for the new Church never diminished, even during the war years when all new building was prohibited. His zeal and enthusiasm certainly inspired his parishioners to keep on making more and more effort so that building could begin when the aftermath of war would make a return to normal life possible.

 After twenty years of pioneering, Father O’Neill’s death in June 1950, meant that his successor, Father Joseph Leavy, appointed Parish Priest in August 1950, was to implement the plan for the new church.  Completed in 1955, the new church of Saint Robert of Newminster was blessed and opened by Bishop Mc Cormack on 17 December. 

Seven years later, the outstanding debt had been cleared. And the Church was consecrated by Bishop Cunningham on 18 June 1963 - the eve of the anniversary of Father O'Neill's death.

Father Leavey was succeeded by Father James Hughes, under whose guidance the sanctuary was adapted to meet the requirements of liturgical changes following the Second Vatican Council.  The organ, built by Harrison and Harrison of Durham, was installed in time for the Parish 50th Jubilee in 1980.

The most recent alteration has been the 1992 extension to create the meeting room and the Narthex, where the oak statue of St Robert of Newminster still greets visitors.