Fifty years of the church of St. Joseph’s – ‘the White chapel’ – in Galliagh

The ceremony both established the new parish of St. Joseph's and put the new suburb – developed from virgin countryside and farmland as Derry expanded northwards from the early 1970s – firmly on the map.

The chapel was built to serve a community that in 1976 had an estimated population of around 2,500 but was expected to grow significantly to 6,000 in the short to medium term.

Shortly after his ordination in 1974 Bishop Edward Daly decided to revise the parish boundaries to take account of the rapid housing development that was underway in that part of the city at the time.

Reporting on the new suburb the 'Journal' declared: "The parish takes its name from the townland in its centre, Ballynagalliagh.

"The Irish name, Baile na gCailleach, means the ‘nuns' townland’. It is so-called because the land once belonged to the mediaeval Cistercian convent situated in Derry.

"At around that same period the Inishowen sept of O'Doherty in Inishowen maintained their principal seat in the parish, at Elaghmore Castle, the ruins of which can still be seen.

"It was in that castle that the great pre-Reformation Bishop of Derry, Redmond O'Gallagher , lived towards the end of the sixteenth century.

"It was to Bishop O'Gallagher that survivors from the hapless Spanish Armada came seeking succour, which he readily gave. It was near this area, too, that some of the Spaniards were induced to surrender and then were massacred."

Located in the centre of the new housing complex the new church was designed to accommodate a congregation of 800 and at its centre to have a small chapel seating 100 people.

This was 'intended to be used as a sound-proofed chapel for young, but noisy, worshippers and their guardians!'.

Cardinal Conway travelled to Derry for the dedication.

At a civic reception he remarked that Derry was 'a city whose name echoed through history from the time of its founder, St. Colmcille, fourteen centuries ago down to our own day'.

He noted that Derry's very name 'had a certain romantic ring about it, and he had always thought of Derry as a city of music and song'.

"It certainly has a personality that is all of its own and possibly for that reason one thinks of it as a 'leading' city - not in terms of population or size but in terms of leadership and initiative.

"In so many ways Derry has set a headline even during the recent tragic years. Its Civil Rights Movement in 1968 was outstanding in its dignity and avoidance of violence."

The Mayor of Derry James Hegarty, welcoming the Cardinal, said: "You come to an ancient city whose span of history extends back to the days of its renowned patron saint, Columba, whose name is still revered and commemorated in our midst."

The Mayor added: "It is a city which, in the course of its interesting and often contentious history, became involved with two traditions, each of which is woven into its present life and represented today on this council."