About Us | Holyspirit

Our Parish

Sometime in the late 1950s, Father Anthony Schotte, a missionary priest from the Congregation of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (CICM), also known as the Scheut Missions, was commissioned by Archbishop Michael Olçomendy to start a parish.

Together with Father Noel Goh, they began their search, eventually settling for a site at Upper Thomson Road, which had a small bungalow, two wooden structures and a shack. Thus in 1960, the Church of the Holy Ghost, later renamed Church of the Holy Spirit, was founded and that bungalow housed the early beginnings of the parish.

Masses were held at the shack, while on Sundays they were held at the premises of The Little Sisters of the Poor, to accommodate the larger number of worshippers.

On 11th July 1964, the Church of the Holy Spirit, designed by one of Singapore’s well-known architect, Alfred Wong, was completed for Archbishop Olçomendy to bless and officially open. About 1,000 Catholics in the neighbourhood now had a parish, distinctive with its iconic bricked wall façade, high ceiling interiors and accordion-styled timber doors, in which to worship. A plaque was unveiled and the words read simply: “Enter to Worship, Depart to Serve”.

A strong influence in the lives of the parishioners came in the form of Father Louis Fossion CICM, who, upon arriving from Taiwan on 31st December 1968, proceeded to spend the next 28 years serving the people.

In November 1975, part of the parish premises was used to house the Catholic Welfare Vocational Training Centre for Boys, with training provided by the Brothers of St Gabriel. The premises was later given back to the parish at the end of the 10-year lease.

The parish celebrated its Silver Jubilee on 14th May 1989.

In 1996, the Church of the Holy Spirit passed from the hands of the CICM Fathers to the Archdiocese. Father Joseph Tan became its first diocesan parish priest who took charge of the mammoth task of rebuilding the church to serve the growing number of parishioners in the area.

Groundbreaking took place in 2000 and by September 2002, the newly renovated church building, presbytery and columbarium were opened to greet its parishioners. In 2010, the Church of the Holy Spirit celebrated its Golden Jubilee on the Solemnity of Pentecost.