St Francis Xavier's Church, Carfin, Founded 1862.

Although shown in maps form the 17th Century, then spelled Caerfin, our village would have been considered a hamlet, probably dependent on the owner of Carfin House, which was situated roughly where the second roundabout on the new spine road to Craigneuk is built, for its livelihood.

The first half of the nineteenth century saw Carfin grow from a hamlet to a village due to the industrial development in the area. Mining, steel foundries, brick works and associated industries attracted labour and with it an increase in housing. At this time there was also an influx of immigrants, mainly from the west and northwest of Ireland, forced to leave their country by the Great Famine. Many of the family names in our Parish today can be traced back to those parts of Ireland. Towards the end of the 19th Century saw another increase in the population, this time by immigrants from Eastern Europe with many Lithuanians arriving in the district looking for work. This mixture of nationalities within the community caused some friction, which lasted for half a century, until inter-marriage and a more tolerant attitude to each other prevailed.

Records from 1836 show that in the civil Parish of Bothwell, an area covering mainly central Lanarkshire, there was a population of 6,581 of which 118 were Catholics. By 1859, the Catholic population had grown to such an extent that several parishes were formed in the district, one of which was the Parish of Saint Ignatius in Wishaw. Carfin belonged to this new Parish. Such was the growth of the Carfin community, however, that in 1862 Fr McCay, Parish Priest of Wishaw Parish, decided that Carfin should have its own Mass Centre. Before the Chapel/School was built, Mass was celebrated in a home in the vicinity of what is now 99 Newarthill Road. Confessions and The Stations of the Cross were held in another home located about the junction of the Hatton Terrace and Newarthill Road.