Sacred Heart Parish (Tors Cove, N.L. : Catholic)

Sacred Heart Parish was established in 1893 and included the communities of Tors Cove, Mobile, Burnt Cove, St. Michael's, Bauline and La Manche. Before 1893, these communities were part of St. Patrick's Parish (established in 1831).

Initially, the ecclesiastical center of Sacred Heart Parish was established at Mobile, with Rev. Michael O'Driscoll as the first parish priest. Documentation on Mobile is confusing and conflicting. There is evidence that the community of Mobile was separated from Sacred Heart Parish in 1898 and erected as a separate parish. The name of this parish has not been verified but it is believed to have been called St. Aiden's, the same name as the church at Mobile destroyed by fire (1963). Sometime before 1911, Mobile Parish may have been canonically suppressed and Mobile was transferred again to Sacred Heart Parish. In 1911,the centre of Sacred Heart Parish was established at Tors Cove. In 1921, when Sts. Peter and Paul Parish was created, Mobile was removed from Sacred Heart Parish and was added to St. Patrick's Parish.

In 1959 the parish priest, Rev. James J. Coady, resigned and due to a shortage of priests, Sacred Heart Parish did not receive a replacement. Instead, the parish priest at Witless Bay, Rev. McGrath, became the administrator for Sacred Heart Parish. In 1965, Sacred Heart Parish was dismembered by canonical decree and it too came under the jurisdiction of St. Patrick's Parish. Both parishes, however, were maintained as two separate distinct parishes with separate financial, birth, death and marriage records. In 1996, Sacred Heart Parish and St. Patrick's Parish were both canonically suppressed. The successor parish was the newly created parish, Our Lady, Star of the Sea.

The first Catholic school in Tors Cove was built by Dean Cleary in 1844. The first school at St. Michael's was also built in 1844 and served the communities of St. Michael's, Burnt Cove and Bauline. This structure was replaced with a new one in 1859. The schools at Tors Cove and St. Michael's continued to be all grade schools until 1968 when the Mobile Central High School opened and a new primary-elementary school was established in Tors Cove. The school building in St. Michael's reopened in 1974 as St. Michael's Print Shop.

In the 1960's Rev. Lawton (administrator to Tors Cove Parish) established the first Parish Council in Tors Cove-St. Michael's, followed by the organization of a parish council.

The parish priests of Sacred Heart Parish were as follows: Rev. Michael O'Driscoll 1893-[1908?]; Rev. Patrick O'Brian (1908-1914); Rev. J. J. Coady (1915-1959); Rev. Richard McGrath as administrator (1959-1965); Rev. William Lawton as administrator (1965-1973); Rev. E. J. Purcell as administrator [1973-1986]; Rev. Anthony Bennett (1986-1987); Rev. Francis Puddister (1987-1990); Rev. William Pomroy as administrator (1990-1995); and Rev. Robert Ryan as administrator (1995-1996).

Created - April 26, 2013

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