The Stopsley mission was founded from Castle Street in 1946. Mass was offered in St. Thomas’s church hall.  In 1948 Fr. George Walker was the first resident priest.

The church of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus was opened on 26th November 1950. In 1960, the Presbytery was completed and the church was extended.

We are blessed to have a Parish school (Sacred Heart Primary) right on our doorstep and a secondary/sixth form school (Cardinal Newman) in the town.

The Convent of the Sisters of the Sacred Heart opened at 124 Ashcroft Road and five of the sisters taught in the Sacred Heart School. The Parish school opened on 18th September 1962 with Sr. Columba as the Headteacher.

The Society for the African Missions (SMA) looked after the Parish from 1976 to 2006.

Our Parish Priests

Fr George Walker – 1948 to 1968

Fr Patrick Oates – 1968 to 1974

Fr Eugene Connolly – SMA 1976 to 2001

Fr John Brown SMA – 2001 to 2006

Fr Chris Whitehouse – 2006 to 2019

Fr Mirek Misiura – 2019 to 2022

Rev Fr Allan R Jones CRIC – 2022 to date

Our Parish Deacons

Deacon Jim Bannan – 2013 to date

Our Parish lies on the edge of the Chilterns and some 500 feet above sea level. We are one mile from London Luton Airport.

The area is steeped in history with settlements going back some 5,000 years and there have been many excavations and Roman finds.

The first written record of “Stoppesle” dates from around 1200 AD. Stop = personal name, Ley (leah) = wood or clearing. The area was part of the Danelaw. It was a hamlet of the manor of Luton without a church.

John Keath was baptised in Luton on 24th June 1832. A mission was begun in 1845 by Rev. S Ward who stayed for two years. It was in the 1880s that the mission (of 180 Catholics) came under the care of Bedford.

On the 8th January 1884 the first resident priest, Rev. J O’Connor, moved into Rothesay Road (No.21) where Mass was offered on 20th January 1884. An iron church was built at Castle Street before Our Lady Help of Christians was built in 1910.

The church was consecrated by Bishop Peter Doyle on 30th September 2008.

A stained glass window depicting the Last Supper was installed in the sanctuary in 2013 and a Pentecost stained glass window was installed in the sanctuary in 2014. The windows were paid for by public subscription in memory of departed loved ones.

Sunday Masses: 6.30pm on Saturday (First Mass of Sunday) and 9.00am and 11.00am on Sunday

Holydays of Obligation: 9.30am and 7.30pm

Confessions: 11.00am on Saturday

Weekday Masses: 9.30am on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,Thursday and Friday (check the weekly Newsletter)

Stations of the Cross: 7.00pm on Friday during Lent

Penitential Services: As announced before Christmas and Easter