During the 1940s parishioners
at the Cathedral held Rummage Sales, Whist Drives.
Sales of Work, Raffles etc. in order to raise funds
for the purchase of ground in Ditherington, a
district to the north of Shrewsbury, on which to
build a Church for the parishioners living there. The
Church was to be known as St.Theresa's (The Little
Flower) .
Canon Augustine Byrne,
Administrator of the Cathedral acquired the use of
the school room in Long Row. This was heated by an
open fire, which was reputed to have given great
warmth and comfort.
After the war (1939 - 45), the
land at Ditherington was bought by others, and houses
were built there. The area known as Harlescott was
spreading. A piece of land was bought in Meadow Farm
Drive, where the present church now stands.
The Church of Our Lady of Pity
was built in 1961, Bishop John Murphy laid the
Foundation Stone on 17th May of that year. There was
some disappointment among the parishioners that the
dedication was Our Lady of Pity, and not St.Theresa,
as originally planned.
But there was a devotion to Our
Lady under this title in the Middle Ages The old
church at Battlefield (now closed) has an ancient
image of the pieta. The church in Greasby in the
Wirral is also dedicated to Our Lady of Pity.
The new Church was at first
served from the Cathedral. In the registers of the
Church are the names of Monsignor Lightbound, Canon
Ted Harrington, Father Michael Dyson and, of course,
the Late Monsignor Terence Welch who was
Administrator of the Cathedral for very many years.
The first parish Priest was
Father Kevin Daley who at first resided at the
Cathedral House in the town until a house was
purchased an Sundorne Avenue. Later a house became
available in Meadow Farm Drive, just opposite the
Church. This was obviously much more convenient, and
it was to this house that Father Daley and his
Housekeeper moved.
In 1983 Father Kevin Daley was
appointed to another parish in Stockport and Father
Desmond Friel became his successor as Parish Priest.
On 10th October 1986 the Silver
Jubilee of the parish was celebrated. In 1990 Father
David Craig was appointed as Parish Priest and Father
Desmond Friel moved to St.James, Hattersley, near
Hyde.
At the opening
of the church, the last of thirty parish churches in
the diocese opened by him, Bishop Murphy
explained the reason for the dedication:
"They
carved in wood an image of the Mother of God, and
they placed the dead Christ on her knees,
and they called her Mother of Pity, Mother of
Compassion, in the literal sense of the
word, of one who has suffered with another."
In 1995 Father
Perter Cryan was appointed Parish Priest and Father
David Craig moved to Our Lady of Fatima in Barnton,
Northwich.The Church is in St Mary’s Deanery,
Shrewsbury and West Shropshire. In 2000 Father Perter
Cryan went to Kenya.
