Catholic Church in the Falkland Islands

When the French settled the islands in 1764 at Saint Louis, A Benedictine, Antoine-Joseph Pernety, served as priest and set up a simple chapel. Under Spanish control 1767–1810 the catholic presence increased. Under British rule from 1833, the catholic presence initially lacked an official clergy. Appeals led to visiting catholic priests from Ireland, and early church-building attempts which struggled financially, but St Mary’s Church was established (1873) and rebuilt in 1886. In 1952 the islands became an Apostolic Prefecture; leadership passed to Mill Hill Missionaries with successive prefects overseeing the Church.^[4][5][6][7]

St. Mary's Catholic Church in Ross Road in Stanley is the sole Catholic Church on the Falkland Islands. Construction of the church finished and it was blessed in 1899. It is an example of a Victorian kit building. Prior to the construction of the church, catholic sunday services were held by Thomas Havers in a house in Stanley. In the early 1990s, the altar rails and the statue of the Sacred Heart were removed and Monsignor Anton Agreiter installed a new altar featuring a carving of the Good Shepherd, along with a new crucifix and a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary, both sourced from his native South Tyrol. On the west wall is a "pictorial history" of the Catholic Church in the Falkland Islands; it was illustrated by the local artist James Peck.^[8][9]