St Anne’s Church, one of the oldest churches in Sydenham, has been serving the community for 94 years. This year St Anne’s celebrates this milestone achievement.
The church was first established on June 7, 1924 and it was blessed by Bishop Delalle in Randles Road. It was later extended to a bigger church in 1974 and was blessed by Bishop DE Hurley. The large ceramic sculpture at the front entrance of the church depicts St Anne, mother of Mary. She embraces the holy family Jesus, Mary and Joseph who symbolise all the families of the parish. Five large stained glass windows adorn the church which was given to the church by the Dominican Sisters of Newcastle. The sixth window, depicting Jesus, Mary and Anne, is the creation of Estalle Valle and it is a memorial to Father Charles Hugo, who was the beloved Parish Priest of St Anne’s for many years. The church site was donated by the York and O’Connor families in Randles Road.
Two holy family sisters from the Maris Stella community would gather the catholic children on this site to prepare them for first communion. Father William Murray who was the chaplain to the sisters made regular visits to the fledgling community and started to raise funds for a church which was built on the site. The church is now led by Ndodana Tshuma OMI, who has been with the church since 2009. Father Joe Money OMI is Father Tshuma’s assistant in the church. There are about six full-time employees at the church. The holy place holds services everyday at 6am during weekdays, 5:30pm on Saturdays and two services on Sundays from 6:30am (St Theresa’s Church), and 9am. The church has about 1,600 members who attend the church during weekend masses. St Anne’s Church has a Catechism Co-ordination (Children’s Church) everyday of the week in the afternoons. The church has three different choirs such as the children’s choir, youth choir and family choir.
Parish Staff and Times
Mass Times
St Anne’s and St Theresas Church
St. Anne’s Tuesday 8.30am
St. Theresa’s Wednesday-Rosary & Mass 6.15pm
St. Theresa’s Thursday -Mass 8.30am
St Theresa’s Friday -School Mass 7.30am
St Anne’s Saturday 5.30pm
St Theresa’s Sunday Mass 7.00am
St. Anne’s Sunday Mass 9.00 am
Clergy
Father Ewen Swartz
Parish Priest
Deacon Everard Simpson
Deacon
Executives
Malcolm Canham
Chairperson
CAROL BOLTMAN
Deputy Chairperson
Marlone Browne
Deputy
Amanda Domingo
Secretary
Members
Brett Jean-Louis
Andrea Green
Kayla Indolent
Liam Porter
Penny Lambert
Gavin Kock
Francois Louis
Julian Joseph
The beginning of our two churches:
St Anne’s and St Theresa’s
The most important house in our area in the 19th century was Overport House, built by William Hartley in 1863 on the site of the present Hartley Road School.
David Sparks bought 200 acres from Joseph Cato in 1855, and named it Sydenham, after his home area in London. Here he built a mansion called Sydenham House.
Sydenham Estate and Sparks Estate were registered with the municipality in 1875.
Lieutenant-Colonel Harry Sparks (son of David Sparks) gave Sparks Estate to the Durban Corporation in 1934, to be used for housing.
St Theresa’s church belongs to the Augustine Sisters who founded St Theresa’s Orphanage, first in Vause Road on the Berea and then moved to St Theresa Road in 1925. The parish church was St Anne’s but because most of the parishioners resided around St Theresa’s Church, the sisters allowed us to use their church on Sundays and Wednesday evenings at 7pm when Fr Hugo said mass dedicated to St Joseph the Worker. The two churches would alternate the 8am and 9.30am masses every Sunday.
The Parish Priests of St Anne’s Church:
1924 to 1926 : Fr Murray
1926 to 1929 : Fr Noel de Gersigny
1929 to 1969 : Fr Charles Hugo
1969 to 1975 : Fr Gennaro Raucci
1975 to 1983 : Fr Joe Money
1983 to 2009 : Fr Albert Danker
2009 to 2016 : Fr Mike Foley
2016 to 2022 : Fr Ndodana Tshuma
2021 to 2025 : Fr Mduduzi Mchunu
2025 to Present : Fr Ewen Swartz
PART PLAYED BY THE AUGUSTINIAN SISTERS
By 1925, the Augustinian Sisters had established the Convent in Chelmsford Road. It was known then as “The Sanatorium” because of the large hospital that the good sisters built and supervised there. Today, it is known as St Augustine’s hospital. The sisters also founded St Philomena’s Orphanage for girls in Malvern and St Theresa’s Home for boys in 1925. St Philomena’s Orphanage moved to Rippon Road in 1977.
ST ANNE’S
It is recorded that Bishop Delalle blessed the foundation stone for the original church on November 19, 1924. Father W Murray O.M.I. was the first Parish Priest from 1924.
Father Noel De Gersigny
He was the second Parish Priest up to 1929. There was no priest house at St Anne’s in those days. Therefore, Fr De Gersigny would come from the Cathedral by horseback on Saturday afternoons to hear confessions. He held Holy Mass on Sundays and Monday mornings. He had to sleep on a stretcher behind the altar and returned to the Cathedral thereafter.
Fr Charles Hugo
Parish Priest from 1929 -1969
“A MAN AMONGST MEN”
He stepped onto the scene in 1929. He came out to South Africa from France because of his poor health. The doctors in France recommended that he come out to the land of sunshine for a few years.
Well!!! The “few” years turned out to be 40 years of service. Naturally, he organised the religious instruction of the schoolchildren and homeboys at St Theresa’s Catholic School.
Father Hugo was meticulous about everything connected to his work. During services, he expected everything to be absolutely correct. He was an outstanding example to us in dignity, concentration and devotion with which he conducted all the services.
HE SET ABOUT STARTING THE FOLLOWING:
- St John’s Young Mens’ Society. It flourished from 1931-1938. However, it dwindled in 1940 to a handful.
- St Theresa’s Mens’ Guild. The mens’ guild became the hub of Parish activities. Father turned to them whenever a serious problem occurred. The Catholic population continued to grow. The membership in 1950 was about 85 men.
- The Children of Mary. His society was set up for girls and young women. They met once a month at St Theresa’s hall.
The Mens’ Guild lasted up to about 1972, when its functions were taken over by the Parish Pastoral Council.
ST THERESA’S GIRL GUIDES
The girls guide was founded in 1930 under the leadership of Mrs. Alice Duchesne with Mrs. Miriam Richen as President. The guides thrived and continued to grow.
ST THERESA’S SCOUT GROUP
The Scout Troop was founded at the same time as the girl guides. The first scoutmaster was Mr. Patrick Champion and his assistant was Mr. Edward Louis.
THE ALTAR SERVERS
This group was very dear to Father Hugo. He formed the group and sought affiliation with headquarters of the Arch Confraternity in London. It was a great day for Father and the young men and boys when the Diploma of membership and medals arrived from London. The training was done by Mr. C Lundall and Mr. Edward Louis who continued the good work, with the result that both St Theresa’s and St Anne’s had altar servers. This continues to grow even today.
HUGO ROAD & CHARLES HUGO SCHOOL
It is fitting that Father Charles Hugo was commemorated by having Hugo Road and Charles Hugo Primary School named after him.
A LARGER NEW CHURCH
For many years, Father Hugo cherished the dream of building a large new church to accommodate the hundreds of faithful Catholics. Hence, the Church Building Fund was started way back in 1940, with lots of consultation and discussion to solve the problem of finding a suitable site for the new church. Therefore, it was a tremendous shock that saddened the hearts of thousands who had grown to know and love him, when they heard the news of his sudden death on Saturday, 23rd August 1969. He died peacefully during the night.
FATHER GENNARO RAUCCI
Father Raucci was appointed Parish Priest in September 1969. Because of the large numbers and the complexities of dealing with a new parish, his Grace the Archbishop of Durban, appointed Father Roets as his assistant. Here the wheels turned full circle and finally after much discussion and planning, the foundation stone of the new St Anne’s Church was laid on 19/5/1974 by Archbishop Dennis Hurley.
By 1971 the Building Fund had raised R100,000. Father Hugo insisted that the new St Anne’s Church be built cash but by then building costs had doubled and it would cost R200,000. All parishioners pledged to pay a certain amount every week until the extra R100,000 was raised. Certain dedicated men would walk door to door every week in order to collect the money pledged. We are eternally grateful to the men who sacrificed their time to do God’s work.
Over the years, many organisations were established in the Parish, for example, Choirs, St Vincent de Paul, Ministers of Hospitality, Martha Group, Sodality of Our Lady, Proclaimers of the Word (Readers), Ministers of the Eucharist, RCIA, Catechists for 1st Communion, High School and Confirmation, Soup Kitchen and Catholic Womens League, ACTS, Brothers in Christ (BIC) and Couples for Christ.