The parish of The Holy Family in Sanderstead was the brainchild of one remarkable priest; the Rev. William Pritchard, parish priest of St. Gertrude's, South Croydon, 1933 - 1955. Until 1921 the only two Catholic churches serving the whole of Croydon were St. Mary's, West Croydon, which was founded in 1863 and St. Gertrude's in 1903. Fr. Pritchard carried through an earlier idea that such a large area should be broken into smaller parochial units. So it was that Mass centres were formed in Selsdon (1921), Purley (1931), Waddon (1933) and Sanderstead (1942). In a very real way, St. Gertrude's church is the 'Mother Church' of all the above.
Plans for the acquisition of a plot of land, for the future of our church, began in 1946 when Misses Cox and Richardson gave up property and Father Hanrahan arranged for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Southwark to buy the land and the property. In February 1951, the first resident parish priest Father Michael Moriarty and the mission church began and then It was not until December 1956 until the church was opened and blessed by Bishop Cyril Cowderoy.
After all these years the parish is still thriving. Our parish priests during this period have been:-
Fr. Michael Moriarty (RIP) 1951 - 1953
Fr. Thomas Cambourne (RIP) 1953 - 1954
Fr. Joseph Ward (RIP) 1954 - 1970
Fr. Gerard Furey (RIP) 1970 - 1973
Fr. John Byrne (RIP) 1974
Fr. Terence Quinlan (RIP) 1974 – 1984
Fr. John Hartley (RIP) 1984 – 2013
Fr. Augustine Kinnane 2013 – 2017
Monsignor. Malachy Keegan 2017 -
Monsignor. Malachy Keegan, the present parish priest, has been with us since 2017 to build on the good work of his predecessors.
