WORDS OF WELCOME FROM MONSIGNOR MICHAEL B. McPARTLAND Welcome to the Website of the Roman Catholic Church in the South Atlantic Ocean. The territorial boundary covers about one sixth of the world's surface and in that area there are two ecclesiastic jurisdictions. The first is the Apostolistic Prefecture of the Falkland Islands and the second is the Missio sui Iuris of the Islands of St. Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha. The history of the Church, in these Islands, can be traced back as far as the eighteenth centrury. The early mission began in a rather tentative way but gradually developed over the years, especially under the dedicated priests and religious brothers and sisters of the Salesian Order (1888-1952) and the Mill Hill Missionaries (1952-2002.) In October 2002, the Bishops Conference of England and Wales assumed full pastoral responsibility for the Church in the South Atlantic. At the moment we have a full time priest serving as Parish Priest of St Mary,s Church Stanley in the Falkland Islands. Fr Peter Norris SFO applied to fill the vacancy that had been advertised in the Add Clerum of the Southwark Diocese from where he came. Fr Peter also serves as Officiating Chaplain to the forces in the Islands. In due course, we hope to have a resident priest in each of the Island communities. In the meantime, we hope that this website will not only be a constant source of information to the Islanders of the South Atlantic, but also to the world-wide community - many of whom I know, have an abiding interest in what is happening in this part of the world. We hope that the updates are being enjoyed by all.  Immediate news will be put on this site on a daily basis from now on.