St. Bernadette's R C Church, 113 Rosetta Road, Belfast, County Antrim, BT6 0LS

St Bernadette's Roman Catholic Church is a large, modern church completed in 1967 to designs by P&B Gregory (the architect being Brian Gregory), situated adjacent to the junction of Knock Carriageway and Rosetta Road, approximately two miles south-east of Belfast city centre. It is said to be an exact copy of a church designed by the same architect and built in South Africa, and is capable of seating over 1,000 people.

The church is built on an unusual tiered fan-shaped plan, with projecting single-storey accommodation to the circumference and wings, and a flat roof construction throughout. The walling is grey brick in stretcher bond, laid between large exposed board-marked in-situ concrete beams and columns painted white, with an asphalt roof and concealed rainwater goods. Irregular coloured glass blocks are laid into a fibrous hard-setting resin compound to form an abstracted composition, set into aluminium-framed panels (timber-framed at ground floor level).

The principal elevation is a sweeping curved façade extending from east to south-west, comprising eleven symmetrical conjoining segments abutted at ground floor by flat-roofed single-storey accommodation. A slightly projecting canopy sits over the front entrance, which comprises a series of mahogany timber doors with uniform vertical glazing and bronze ironmongery. A pair of smaller side entrances is located to either side of the façade, between which are four uniformly arranged paired narrow vertical strips of glazing. Each segment of the double-height façade comprises a large in-situ concrete segmental arch frame forming a continuous parapet wall. Each arch is infilled with abstract glazed panels and a central smooth-finished concrete screen comprising a series of staggered flat pyramids, separated on the vertical by narrow glazed strips. Detailing is concentrated on this curved façade, in deliberate contrast with the more austere elevations to the north and north-west, which lack ornamentation. The roof rises over the altar to form a clerestory of stained glass windows, surmounted by a cross.

The north-west elevation is asymmetrically arranged, comprising a large blank façade abutted at ground floor level by single-storey accommodation, with a double-leaf side entrance located left of centre. Either end of the single-storey portion projects forward; there is a small horizontal window to the right and a full-height stained glass window to the left cheek of the left projection. On the left side of this façade rises the altar: a tall curved form rising above the main body of the church and embracing the corner between the north-west and north elevations, forming the nucleus from which the radiating plan fans outward. The right cheek of the altar projection comprises a triplet of tall vertical stained glass windows with three diminished-in-height windows at clerestory level. The north elevation is similar to the north-west elevation, with the exception that the single-storey abutment incorporates a rear entrance door left of centre, full-height timber-framed vertical stained glass windows to either side, and a single-leaf exit door on the right cheek adjacent to a window.

The church is distinguished by the use of high-quality contemporary materials and construction techniques on a scale comparatively rare within Northern Ireland. The stained glass — the work of Father Charles Norris — uses a symbolic and subtle grading of the colour spectrum from east to west across the south façade, acting as a sundial as light passes through during the course of the day, with contemporary stained glass windows also to the altar. Moving away from traditional church layout, the open-plan interior is well arranged, providing a simple and effective relationship between the main body of the church and the ancillary accommodation. Because of the fan-shaped plan, all worshippers are able to be in close proximity to the altar.

The focal point of the interior is a suspended bronze sculpture of the risen Christ over the altar by Elizabeth Frink (1930–1993), one of Britain's leading sculptors, who was later created a Dame. This altarpiece is very similar to Frink's work for the altar of the Metropolitan Cathedral in Liverpool (also 1967) and, like that Liverpool altarpiece, reduces the material cross to a mere suggestion. Woodcarvings are by Ian Stewart, the Stations of the Cross are by Neil Murphy, and the wrought iron grilles to the Mortuary Chapel and Baptistry are by Ray Carroll.

The church was built during a period of significant population growth and suburban expansion in Belfast. The area was developed in the post-war decades, when large housing estates spread across what had formerly been farmland. It was Northern Ireland Housing Trust policy at this time to rehouse tenants from overcrowded inner-city housing judged to be substandard, while an expanding Catholic middle class was also seeking private housing in the suburbs. The church enters valuation records in 1968 at a valuation of £2,400. Due to demographic changes since its construction, the church now finds itself situated within a largely Protestant hinterland and church membership has declined in recent years.

The church is little altered since its completion. St Bernadette's Primary School is associated with the church and is located to the west of the site. To the north is a large car park surrounding the adjacent parochial hall, erected around 1985 to designs by Gregory Architects. The church sits screened from the adjacent carriageway by planting, and the east of the site is bounded by a road beyond which is two-storey detached housing.