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| St Augustine of Canterbury |
St Augustine of Canterbury: The parish was started from St. Joseph's in Fishponds and in the early 1960's Fr (later Mgr) Tom Hughes paid £16,000 for the land, which now houses the Church, Presbytery, Hall, School and playing fields. Fr Bart Collins was given the task of building the Church and the foundation stone was eventually laid on 25th July 1964. Fr Frank Daly was appointed as its first Parish Priest and he did tremendous work here from 1967-1993 and laid the foundations of the current community and its spirit of willingness to work for the good of the parish. He was followed by Mgr Pat McCoy who worked hard in the parish from 1993 to 1996. Fr Bernard Massey followed him in 1996. He had previously been a chaplain in the army. He served ten years,and moved to Gloucester in the summer of 2006. He was succeeded by Fr Alexander Redman, who served for two years before taking up a permanent Chaplaincy post within the Prison Service. We were joined by Canon Frank Bermingham in February 2009 who cared for the parish for many years until his retirement in 2022. So many of these Priests were supported by Deacon Peter Hinchey who worked very hard for this Parish and others until his death in 2018. Deacon John Scanlon also assisted our parish, and the wider Parishes in Communion until he relocated to the Lake District.
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| St John Fisher |
St John Fisher: After the death of Canon King, St John Fisher in Frenchay, was the first parish to come into communion with St. Augustine's. The presbytery was sold and some of the funds were used to refurbish the lovely little church.
Due to the small size of St. John Fisher, it is no longer pratical to have a Sunday Mass with two preists covering all the parishes in our communion however weekday masses and devotion still happen at St John Fisher.
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| Fr Jim Williams |
The Parish is now in the capable hands of Fr Jim Williams, overall parish priest of our Parishes in Communion for Mission, who lives at St Lawrence's Church in Chipping Sodbury.
He is assisted by Fr Barnabas Page, who is resident at St Augustine's presbytery, joining us in October 2023 from the Forest of Dean Churches, and in turn, assisted by Deacon Michael Belt.
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| Fr Barnabas Page |
The parish also looks after the prison in Pucklechurch (formerly Ashfield Young Offenders prison). The parish has a Primary School and Charity Preschool. With groups ranging from Bumps, Babies and Toddlers to the Not-so-Young parish life covers all ages. This, combined with the range of spiritual groups from Charismatic Prayer to the Legion of Mary as well as social action groups like the Soup Run meaning that we deal with a vast array of different needs and wants in a parish community. Added to all this is the evangelisation work done by a number of different bodies. We strive to reach out to everyone in this locality. In doing so we desire to bring to them the love of God as mediated through the Church His Son founded.
At the centre of all we do and are is the celebration of the Sacraments of the Church and in particular the sacrifice of the Mass. There is also a well-organised Children's Liturgy of the Word. There are many musical groups and organists so the music is varied. We are not solely a child centred parish and have a number of social events and trips designed to meet the needs of adults of all ages. We also arrange regular pilgrimages.
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| Deacon Peter RIP and Fr Frank on the occasion of Fr Frank's 30th Anniversary of Ordination |
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| Deacons Mike, John and Peter (L to R) on the occasion of Deacon John's Ordination in 2011. |
Our fellow Parishes in Communion
From September 2010 St Augustine's, Downend, St John Fisher, Frenchay, Our Lady of Lourdes, Kingswood, St Paul's, Yate, and St Lawrence, Chipping Sodbury became Parishes in Communion for Mission. If you need details of weekend or weekday Mass times or confession times etc please check with the individual Parish as times may vary:
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| The entrance to St Lawrence's Church, off of Chipping Sodbury High Street |
St Paul’s and St Lawrence
Tel: 01454 312161
Our Lady of Lourdes
Tel: 0117 9498743
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| St Paul's Church in Yate |
Our Pastoral Area
The Diocese is split into a number of small groupings of parishes. Our parish is part of the
St Edmond of Abingdon area, led by Fr Eugene Campbell from Holy Family Church in Patchway. As a deanery the parishes try to work together where possible and so we have an annual celebration of the Sacrament of Confirmation for the Deanery. Each Church in the Deanery has Clergy details together with the Mass & Confession times, for each Parish.
Our Wonderful Primary School on site ~ St Augustine of Canterbury Catholic Primary School
Visit their Website: https://www.staugustinedownend.org.uk/
St Augustine of Canterbury Primary School (1080 HD).mp4 from pace agency on Vimeo.
We also have an amazing Preschool, on site. Visit their website for details here.
