About Our Church
St Teresas Catholic Church,
Glasgow Street,
Dumfries,
DG2 9DE
dumfries.stteresa@gallowaydiocese.org.uk
Tel: 01387 252603
Parish Priest: Fr. Uchenna Odenigbo CSSp
Assistant Priest - Fr. Francis Dometiero CSSp
Parish Deacon - Rev. William Hiddleston
Nursing Homes in our community
Briery Park | 01848 332000 | New St, Thornhill DG3 5NJ |
Abbey Gardens | 01387 255322 | Lincluden Road, Dumfries, Dumfries & Galloway DG2 0QB |
Queensberry | 01659 58234 | Lauries Wynd, Sanquhar, DG4 6DR |
Lochduhar | 01387 256524 | 1 Blackley Park Road, Dumfries, DG2 9JW |
Goldilea | 01387 730471 | Dalbeattie Road, Dumfries, DG2 7PE |
Please inform Father Uchenna or Father Dennis if you wish anyone to be visited in any of these homes. He and a group of dedicated visitors will be happy to call. Holy communion can also be brought.
The Sacrament of the Sick should be requested, especially if an illness or condition becomes worse.
Dumfries and Galloway Royal Infirmary (DGRI)
The Hospital Number is: (01387) 246246
The Hospital Chaplain is: Deacon Willie Hiddleston
Text or message him on: 07 591 230 828
Email: rcchaplain.hospital@yahoo.com
In an emergency please ask a member of staff to contact the priest on call immediately.
For a routine visit whilst in hospital ask a member of staff to call or email Deacon Willie when you are admitted. The hospital only informs the Chaplain if they receive a specific request for them to do so.
Of course a family member can do this for you.
Hospital Chaplain -
Deacon Willie Hiddleston
Parish History
Our patroness is St Teresa of Lisieux (1875-1897).
She was born Marie-Françoise-Thérèse Martin in Alençon, France on 2nd January 1873. Unfortunately her mother (Zélie Martin) died of breast cancer when Thérèse was only 4 years of age and her father, (Louis Martin) moved the family to Lisieux. She joined the Carmelite community in Lisieux at the age of 15-after urging even the Pope to allow her to enter so young! Thérèse herself died of tuberculosis at the age of 24. She was canonised in 1925, her feastday being 3rd October. Her remains are found at the Carmelite Convent in Lisieux. In 1997 Pope John Paul II declared her a Doctor of the Church. Her parents were the first married couple to be canonised as a married couple at the same ceremony by Pope Francis on 18th October 2015. Their feast day is 12th July.
We hope you enjoy the site we have created and that you learn a little about our history and the foundation of the parish and how we continue with our best efforts to serve the Lord today.
Join us for any of our services-you will be very welcome.
Parish Priests
Name | Start Year | End Year |
|---|---|---|
Father Uchenna Odenigbo | 2023 | |
Father Jim Hayes | 2010 | 2023 |
Canon John Walls |RIP| | 1997 | 2010 |
Canon Pat McSorley | 1985 | 1997 |
Canon Sam McGinness |RIP| | 1982 | 1985 |
Father John Walsh |RIP| | 1972 | 1982 |
Monsignor Francis Duffy |RIP| | 1958 | 1972 |
Assistant Priests
Name | Start Year | End Year |
|---|---|---|
Canon Denis Quinlan |RIP| | 1958 | 1972 |
Father James McHugh |RIP| | 1959 | 1962 |
Father Tom McCann |RIP| | 1962 | 1972 |
Canon Archibald Brown | 1972 | 1975 |
Father Stanislaus Harbison | 1974 | 1975 |
Father William Murray | 1975 | 1978 |
Father John Kinsler | 1977 | 1979 |
Father John Quinn | 1978 | 1979 |
Father Michael Reddan S.D.S. | 1979 | 1980 |
Father Charles Duffin | ||
Monsignor Peter Magee | 1982 | 1984 |
Father Douglas Hutchison | 1985 | 1987 |
Father John McLean | 1987 | 1989 |
Father George Thompson |RIP| | 1989 | 1993 |
Father Gerald Donnelly | 1995 | 1997 |
Father Stephen Latham | 1997 | 1999 |
Father Dennis Orteyse-Yiye | 2023 | 2024 |
Father Francis Dometiero | 2024 |
Any information you may have would greatly help our parish archives. Please email any knowledge/corrections you may have to dumfries.stteresa@gallowaydiocese.org.uk
Thank you.
Architecture
The architect was John Sutherland. The interior is centred, as is right, on the altar of Creetown granite. There is an immense figure of Christ in majesty on the Cross over looking the large sanctuary area. The original wooden pulpit, shaped like the prow of a ship, reminding us of the barque of Peter, was replaced on 28th February 2011 on the first anniversary of the untimely death of of Canon John Walls, parish priest from 1997. It is modelled on the altar and has been constructed of Creetown granite in his memory. The large Sanctuary area is ideal for the celebration of today’s liturgy, although the Church was opened in 1958, before the liturgical adaptations of the Second Vatican Council, it was a very simple task to bring it in line with today’s way of celebrating the Eucharist.
The roofing of the church and the 101 foot spire were carried out with Westmoreland slates and the spire soars majestically in a very contemporary style over the town of Dumfries.
The single window in the Baptistry (by William Wilson) shows Our Lord being baptised by St John the Baptist. The window is in the richly coloured conventional style of 13th Century French glass. The glowing red figure of Christ is set against the cool blues and greens of the background and stylised river in which there is a fish, an early Christian symbol.
The stained glass window outside the Baptistery represents St Joseph as a carpenter at his workbench. Beside him, holding out his hands, suggesting the Cross, is the boy Jesus. Nails and pincers, tools of the carpenter’s trade, recall the Crucifixion.
The Baptistry
The Chapel of Our Lady
Created by John Kingsley Cook, this represents Our Blessed Lady as she appeared in the Grotto at Masabielle in Lourdes. Below the figure on the right of the shrine is the miraculous spring which was revealed to St. Bernadette. The words “Que soy era Immaculada Councepciou” I am the Immaculate Conception, are the words spoken to Bernadette in 1858, the year of the apparitions.
The mosaic is in enamel tesserae from Venice, together with green marbles from Sweden, pink and ivory from Italy, granite from Creetown, Caenstone from France, red sandstone from Locharbriggs, pebbles from the Solway shores and two pieces of grey stone from the actual grotto of Masabielle.
The mosaic is a modern example of a method of working “in situ” first practised in the 5th Century in Rome and probably unique in Scotland. Working with three assistants, it was carried out by the artist in three weeks.
