Page 4 - Bulletin 13 2009

1

THE YEAR 2008
th
THE 150 ANNIVERSARY OF THE FOUNDING OF
ST. JAMES ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH
AND

THE CENTENARY OF STAR OF THE SEA CONVENT

Mike Walker

The first Roman Catholic Church (1858 - 1900)

In the mid-1850s the Right Reverend Dr Patrick R. Griffiths, the Roman Catholic
Bishop and first Vicar Apostolic of the Cape of Good Hope, petitioned Sir George

Grey, Governor of the Cape, for a piece of crown land in the Kalk Bay area for Catholic

worship. This was mainly because the Filipino settlers in Kalk Bay were of Spanish
descent and were Catholics. Many arrived here as deserters from the sugar barques en

route from Manila to Boston. They were compelled each Sunday to make the hazardous
journey across from Kalk Bay to Simon's Town, either by sea or by road, to the Church

of Saints Simon and Jude in order to attend Mass. Sir George Grey duly granted a small
piece of ground 100 ft. x 100 ft. with a specific condition that it be used only as a place

of worship. The site was opposite today's Catholic Church at St. James where a railway

cottage now stands. Transfer took place on the 27 October 1858, three weeks after the
foundation stone was laid on 5 October 1858.

Lieut.-Colonel Ashton, a leading figure among the fishermen of Kalk Bay, immediately

objected to the site claiming it was not suitable. It was too close to the beach and to the
common ground where many weekend holidaymakers camped. (There was no railway

in those days.) The area was flat and very popular for tented holidays. Ashton also

objected to the distance the fisherfolk would have to travel and that, with the vast area
of unused land between the Main Road and the mountain, a more practical site could be

found closer to Kalk Bay.