History

Our Lady of Good Hope Catholic Church in Sea Point, established in 1921, stands as a beloved landmark on Cape Town’s Atlantic coastline. Located at the corner of St Andrew’s and Beach Roads, the church has long welcomed parishioners and visitors alike. This page documents some of its rich history, the priests who have served the parish, and the current restoration efforts, preserving its role as a vital part of the community.

Introduction

(Photograph: 26 May 2024, by Fr Zane Godwin)

Our Lady of Good Hope Catholic Church is located at the corner of St Andrew’s and Beach Roads in Sea Point. It has become an important landmark on the Atlantic coastline. This document outlines the church's history since 1921, noting its ongoing role as a place of worship for locals and visitors from around the world.

Previously, the Monastery Hospital on High Level Road and Loreto Convent School were closely linked to Our Lady of Good Hope Church. However, these have since been redeveloped into housing and a shopping center, respectively.

The current Parish Priest, Fr Zane Godwin, was appointed in December 2024. He is responsible for both Our Lady of Good Hope and St Theresa’s Catholic Church in Camps Bay. His mission is to lead the community as “a welcoming and evangelising Catholic community, striving with the grace of the Holy Spirit, to know, love and serve God more as disciples of Jesus Christ.”

The History

Founding the Sea Point Mission

In 1910, Sacred Heart Church, Somerset Road, Green Point, served the Catholic community of Green Point, Sea Point, extending to Camps Bay.

The Church of St Francis, which was located on part of the site of the present church, served the Catholic community in Sea Point from 1921. About 1916, when the Holy Family Sisters established their Sanatorium (later known as The Monastery Hospital) on Kloof Road, Sea Point, Sr Emily and Miss Marchiano came across children baptized as Catholics but with no knowledge of or how to practice their faith. They opened a small school and very soon had 40 pupils. From 1918, their chapel, attached to the sanatorium, served the Catholic community until the new church was built.

Bishop Rooney was approached to investigate and was surprised at the number of Catholics living in Sea Point. He began to personally say Holy Mass for them on Sundays and watched as the numbers at Mass increased.

(Early picture of Our Lady of Good Hope Catholic Church on the corner of St Andrew’s and Beach Roads, Sea Point.)

The records show the letter written by Bishop Rooney dated 12 October 1922:

“In the discharge of our Pastoral duty, and in order to provide for the spiritual needs of the faithful which from certain information we learn to have considerably increased in that hitherto existing quasi Parish known by the name of the ‘Sacred Heart’ Parish, we have decided on dividing that same region into two separate quasi Parishes, one retaining the old appellation i.e. Sacred Heart. The other henceforth to be known and styled by the name Sea Point Mission. Further we hereby assign the street or road known as Glengariff Road, running from the Mountain to the Sea at Three Anchor Bay as the line of division between the two quasi parishes designated above and further: With the exercise of our full authority as Vicar-Apostolic we hereby appoint to the care of the Sacred Heart quasi Parish the Revd. J. O’Rourke and to that of the Sea Point Mission the Revd Francis Hartin”.

In 1918, the property ‘Nantes’ came on the market and was purchased by Bishop Rooney, who handed the property over to the Holy Cross Sisters for a school. Part of the building served as a Mass centre.

Early Priests and Developments

In November 1922, Fr Francis Hartin was appointed the first priest-in-charge and built St Francis of Assisi Mission Church in St Andrew’s Road, Sea Point. Fr Hartin served the Sea Point Catholic community from Sacred Heart Parish from 1922 until March 1926, when he was succeeded by Fr B Glynn (1926-1928). On 6 April 1926 Fr Glynn, formerly of St Agnes Parish in Woodstock, became the first resident priest in Sea Point, and was the first priest to live in the presbytery called Blackrock, in Kei Apple Road, Sea Point.

In 1927, the Loreto Sisters took over the school from the Holy Cross Sisters. The Loreto Sisters had started at Villa Ida (now Villa Maria) and an exchange seemed to have taken place as the Holy Cross Sisters took over Villa Ida and the Loreto Sisters took over Nantes. Loreto Convent School was built in the 1930s and the church was in the lower half of the property.

In 1928, Fr William J Griffin succeeded Fr Glynn and he procured land and built the Chapel-of-ease in Camps Bay in 1933. Previously Holy Mass in Camps Bay was said in the Old Pavilion.  

Our Lady of Good Hope Church built in 1940

Construction of Our Lady of Good Hope Church

On the death of Fr Griffin in 1936, Dr John Sheehan was appointed Parish Priest of Sea Point, and soon after the outbreak of World War 11 in 1939, Dr Sheehan convened a meeting of all parishioners and proposed the building of a new church as the church of St Francis could no longer accommodate the growing Catholic population. Bishop Hennemann SAC presided over the meeting and the majority agreed upon the building of a new church, the current Church of Our Lady of Good Hope. The Church was built by Joseph Rubbi.

Joseph Rubbi was born in the village of Marostica, near the city of Padua in Italy in 1873. He was a carpenter by trade and upon moving to Cape Town he became a building contractor and built buildings for the Cape Government on Robben Island, which was a leper colony at the time. Two of his major buildings before building Our Lady of Good Hope Church, were the Salesian Institute in Somerset Road, Green Point, and the Old Mutual Insurance Company Building in Darling Street, Cape Town. The current St Joseph’s Chapel situated in Rubbi Road, Kommetjie, was built in his memory.

Dr Sheehan named the church Our Lady of Good Hope, inspired by the Cape of Good Hope. The name also came from the Holy Family Sisters, who had originally named the Monastery Hospital, Our Lady of Good Hope.

Bishop Hennemann SAC laid the foundation stone on December 8, 1940. The sanctuary of the original St Francis church was the only part incorporated into the new church. The rest of the St. Francis church building became the original parish hall.

A letter dated November 3, 1988, from His Eminence Owen Cardinal McCann, Archbishop of Cape Town, acknowledges that Bishop Hennemann SAC blessed the new church, but the exact date of the opening and blessing is unknown.

Church Features and Art

The Crucifix in the church was carved by WG Bevington in 1941. William George Bevington (1881 – 1953), born in Seymour, Eastern Cape, studied at the Grahamstown School of Art and the Kensington College of Art in London. Bevington, who was deaf, created portraits and landscapes in oil and watercolor, carved wood, and designed architectural mouldings, medals, and church decorations. Angela Zehnder, the recent restorer of the Crucifix, believes that Bevington also sculpted the statues on the exterior of the church.

All Catholic churches have a relic placed in the altars of a former saints or saints. There is no information currently available on the saint whose relic is in our altar, but the place where the relic has been placed is in the altar as shown here.

A plaque at the church entrance states that Bridget Power donated the Stations of the Cross in memory of her brother, Patrick Power, who died on October 17, 1956. The fourteen Stations of the Cross were carved by CG Laros, whose company, Laros Carpentry, was known for its craftsmanship in woodwork. The Stations are stamped with the date February 20, 1958. Parishioners recall that these Stations replaced 14 paintings, and their removal was controversial.

Parish Priests and Administration

In 1949, Dr Sheehan was succeeded by Fr (later Monsignor) John O’Rourke for two years, followed by Fr Thomas O’Sullivan (1951-1954) and Monsignor John Galvin (1954-1973). During Monsignor Galvin’s time, Our Lady of Good Hope provided financial assistance for the building of the parish church in Manenberg, and the two parishes were subsequently “twinned”. This “twinning” was controversial, with Manenberg parishioners reportedly feeling a lack of ownership of their church for many years.

In 1973, Fr Louis Stubbs succeeded Monsignor Galvin, and in 1975, Monsignor Cornelius Lynch became parish priest, serving for 10 years. During Monsignor Lynch's term, the new Parish Centre, designed by a parishioner and local architect, Mr Andy Versino, was built as an extension to the old hall. The total cost of building the Parish Centre, parking lot, pathway to the Church and renovations to the original hall was R396,000. The new Parish Hall and parking lot were built on the site of former tennis courts belonging to Loreto Convent School, which the school donated to the church upon selling its property.

The original parish hall was used by Loreto Convent School for gymnastics, and the church ran a Youth Club. Revd Fr J Baird, a curate, started the St Thomas’ Badminton Club, and Revd Fr R Haldane organized the Sea Point Scout Troop. The Legion of Mary, Catholic Women’s League, the Sea Point Choir, and the Knights of da Gama were active groups in the parish.

Monsignor Desmond Hatton succeeded Monsignor Lynch and later served as parish priest of both Our Lady of Good Hope and St Theresa’s Camps Bay. He was the first parish priest to serve both parishes without a curate. Monsignor Donald de Beer was appointed parish priest of Our Lady of Good Hope and served for six years until his death in July 2000. In October 2000, Monsignor Clifford Stokes was appointed and served until his retirement in March 2023. In December 2023, Fr Zane Godwin was appointed parish priest of both Our Lady of Good Hope and St Theresa’s Camps Bay.