Our History
The Parish Church of St. Anne’s is one of the oldest Roman Catholic Churches in the Shrewsbury Diocese. It is located at Rock Ferry, Birkenhead, on the Wirral Peninsula. It is a large building decorated in Gothic style with all its architectural drawings and plans completed by Mr. E Welby Pugin [hence: E. W. Pugin]. However, E. W. Pugin did not live to see the completion of the building; and had to be completed by his Pugin brothers — Peter Paul and Cuthbert. St. Anne’s foundation stone was laid by the then Bishop James Brown on the 29th May, 1875, blessed and opened by Canon James Hilton V.G on 29th July 1877; while the extensions to the Church were dedicated by Bishop Moriarty on 29th July 1934. A Southwest tower was initially planned by E. W. Pugin but was never built. The magnificent Church of St. Anne’s was built with Storeton stone faced with Welsh Pierrepoint of bluish tint; and the interior was adorned with marble. It was run and served by the Oblates of Mary Immaculate [hence: OMI], until it was handed over to the Shrewsbury Diocese in 2010. From its inception until 2010, St. Anne’s Church was served by the following OMI Parish Priests:
Denis Cormican
Robert Cormican
Hugh Corr
Patrick Costello
Patrick Cott
Andrew Coyle
George Crawley
Richard D’Alton
Peter Paul Daly
James D'Arcy
Thomas Dawson
John Murphy
Richard Murphy
William Murray
Patrick Newman
James Nolan
James O’Boyle
Michael O' Brien
Bryan O’Connell
Francis O'Connor
Patrick O'Donnell
Richard O'Donovan
Morgan O’Dwyer
Patrick O’Dwyer
Matthew O'Reilly
James O'Reilly
Bernard O'Reilly
Matthew O'Reilly
John O'Rourke
Daniel O' Ryan
Michael Phelan
Edward Quinn
Joseph Deehan
Joseph Aherne
Jean Arnoux
Edward Bradshaw
Michael Brady
Austin Brown
Wilfred Browne
Thomas Burke
John Byrne
Myles Byrne
Hugh Callady,
Seamus Carroll
James Carroll
Richard Gleson
Michael Gorman
Gerrard Hanley
Kevin Hanrahan
Richard Haslam
Thomas Haugh
Eoghan Haughey
Dominic Houlihan
James Hughes
Michael Hughes
Edward Hunt
Charles Jolivet
Cuthbert Keegan
Richard Kelly
Gerrard Kennedy
Terence Keogh
John King
Jarleth Kivlehan
Thomas Leahy
Aiden Leddy
Hilaire Lenior
Anthony Carroll
James Carroll
Matthew Clark
Malachy Clarke
Thomas Clavin
Thomas Cleary
John Clenaghan
Andrew Clery
James Comerford
Sean Connellan
Stanislaus Connelly
Colm Connolly
Henry Lennon
Henry Lynch
Clement Matthews
Eugene Matthews
James McCann.
Sean McDermott
Patrick McDonnell
Michael McGhee
Laurence McGlinchy
Thomas McGrath
Arthur McIntyre
James McMahon
Charles McManus
Dermot Mills
James Moran
Joseph Morgan
James Morrison
John Morrison
John Mulvany
Michael Malvany
Dennis Connor
William Doyle
Christophe Dunne
James Egan
Thomas Fahy
Francis Flynn
Thomas Foley
Laurence Fox
Peter Gaffney
Anthony Gaughran
James Gibney
Francis Ginty
Patrick Redmond
Thomas Reidy
Joseph Ryan
William Ryan
Nicholas Ryan
William Ryan
Michael Ryan
John Scollard
Malachy Sheehan
Matthew Shinnors
Paul Taylor
Charles Toland
Patrick Towe
Nicholas Treacy
John Wall
Laurence Walshe
Ray Warren
Ernest Watson
Joseph Wheeler
Daniel Wilkinson.
The Parish was, then, handed over to the Diocese in 2010 with Fr. Philip Atkinson as the first Diocesan Parish Priest until 2014. Fr. Bernard Forshaw became the parish priest of St. Anne’s in 2014 and remained so till 2021. The Parish of St. Anne has had and enjoyed the privilege of being a missionary parish. Therefore, with Fr. Bernard retiring, the bishop generously welcomed into the Diocese of Shrewsbury a young religious foundation from Nigeria – Holy Family Fathers and Brothers of the Youth. With this, St. Anne’s parish was once again returned to its originality of being a missionary parish. The bishop welcomed a Nigerian priest from the Holy Family Fathers and Brothers of the Youth, to start a new foundation at St. Anne’s. To the glory of God, Fr. Mario-Benedict U. Ashuikeka, HFFBY has been appointed as parish priest.
MISSION STATEMENT
With great devotion to Our Blessed Lady, and with focus on family life and fellowship with one another in good and sad times, we grow together in our journey of faith and love, while we look forward in joyful hope to the ultimate gift of eternal life.
Our mission in St. Anne’s Parish stems from the mission of the Church entrusted to her by Jesus Christ her Head. It is anchored on the Gospel values and message of salvation. Inspired by God’s love and guided by the Holy Spirit, we carry on the mission of Christ and His Church.
We desire to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ, keeping to the traditions of the Roman Catholic Church. By prayerful and joyful expression of service to God and others, we strive to keep the message of the Gospel alive in our parish community.
We are a loving Community discerning God’s will and strive to be obedient to it, living each day with gratitude for the abundant blessings we receive. Our life is centred on and revolves around the celebration of the Eucharist from where flows our strength.
We are a welcoming Christ-centred Catholic Community where each person can expect to be valued and cared for in our prayerful and vibrant Christian family, mindful of our traditions yet open to change.