A brief history of St Peter's Church

1938	St Peter's is erected, as a church hall and Mass centre, to meet the needs of the growing Catholic population.
1939	1 April, Easter Day: The first Mass is celebrated in St Peter’s.
1960	A porch and a heating system are added to St Peter’s, funded by the parish-wide Football Pool that paid for the building of several other churches.
1963	The window of Loire glass from Chartres is installed, at the same time that the glass is installed in St Richard’s Church. Prior to that time the window was of plain glass.
1965	St Peter’s Church is transferred from the Parish of Chichester to the Parish of Selsey.
1981	Building of the presbytery bungalow commences.
1983	Fr Gerald Thornton is appointed as Priest in Charge. On his death he left a legacy to St Peter’s that greatly assisted in ensuring the parish’s financial security.
1985	In response to a petition of the Parish Committee to the Bishop, the Parish of the Witterings is created as an independent parish, with Fr John Stone appointed in October as the first Parish Priest.
1990s	The vestibule of the church is enlarged to incorporate a toilet and the repository. The new toilet replaced the original one, which for some unexplained reason was located in the confessional!
2002	The retirement of Fr Leddy, the last resident Parish Priest and the general shortage of priests means that history has turned full circle and Parish of the Witterings again comes under the care of the priests of the Parish of Chichester.
2005	Old and noisy chairs are replaced with substantial wooden benches reclaimed from a nearby church which closed and a new brass processional cross is donated by an anonymous parishioner.
2006	The Marian Garden is constructed and a new altar is installed.
2006	13 June: The church is consecrated by Bishop Kieran Conroy, who concelebrated the Consecration Mass with Fr Kieron O'Brien, Parish Priest and Fr Thomas Swaffer O.Praem.
2021	On 1 November 2021, the process begun in 2002, when the Parish of the Witterings was placed under the pastoral care of the priests resident in Chichester, was completed, with the suppression of the Parish of Chichester and the Parishes of Selsey and Chichester, and the erection of the Parish of Our Lady and the Saints of Sussex.

Several people stand around a partially-constructed altar of pale marble.

Installation of the altar

Bishop Kieron, wearing a hold mitre and carrying his crozier, and two priests process past the congregation at the beginning of the Consecration Mass

Entrance procession, Consecration Mass

Bishop Kieran and Fr Kieron anointing the walls of the church during the Consecration Mass

Anointing the walls, Consecration Mass