Our Churches
Our churches are important to us. They are places in which we encounter the living God, in the liturgy, in silent prayer, and in one another and are fed and nurtured in our faith. In them we experience that our prayers are indeed heard, and our faith and hope strengthened. They speak publicly of who we are and who we are called to be. They are often rich with the stories of our own families.
At Masses on 28th January I said a little bit about where we are on the future of our churches and urged everyone to pray, that with God’s help we will discern the best way forward and following where the Lord leads, grow in adoration and service. I would also like to urge you to contribute your voice to this discernment which is significant for us and for the coming generations.
What I said was based on the findings of the Building Review Group which can be downloaded here. The online form for feedback can be found here (Under 16’s please use form here). Please do read the report or the rest of this blog post before providing your feedback.
There is a web page with some more FAQs here.
(Blog post updated 19 March)
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Over the last 35 years, prompted by a need to think about the future shape of the mission in the area, the Parish has explored many different alternatives. Just before I came a study established the feasibility of selling St Edmund’s Church. Further enquiries have since been undertaken to explore the sale of St Joseph’s and the development of St Edmund’s to better meet parish need.
These studies confirm that there are simply two feasible options.
Option A: St Joseph’s becomes the church for Godalming and is extended, providing room for hospitality / children’s liturgy (about twice the size of the current parish room) and a disabled toilet, retaining as much of the parking as we can. No major reordering of the church is included, but some of the sacred furnishings would be transferred from St Edmund’s. It may be possible to provide some additional seating and a parish office.
Option B: St Edmund’s becomes the church for Godalming, with improved access via a lift from street level, one or two extra parking places and pick-up/drop-off provision in Croft Road. The presbytery would be rebuilt to provide a large meeting room (about half the size of the nave of the church), toilets, and a parish office. This larger build would likely require fundraising of around £200k more than St Joseph’s but deliver a 50% larger meeting room.
The report from the Building Review Group provides more detail of these options and of the feasibility studies undertaken. This report also foresees that in a few years there will be one Mass on a Sunday morning, at whichever church we retain. I am aware how much loved the 8.45am Mass at Farncombe is, but the time constraints mean that it cannot be our principal Mass once that happens.
Both options will provide valuable new meeting space for our community and mission. Both have their attractions and limitations, and the choice of one over the other is not obvious. Both will provide a broadly similar amount of working space and the costs are not that different in the context of making a strategic choice.
St Joseph’s provides much easier entry to the church and plenty of parking. A new space near at the entrance to the church would provide modest room for children’s liturgy, families needing to pop out and coffee after Mass.
St Edmund’s provides the easier site to access without a car, and new facilities on the site of the current presbytery would provide a couple more parking places for those less mobile, a lift, a decent size room for children’s liturgy, coffee after mass and room for families needing to pop out, albeit at the front of the church. It enables us to retain a presence in the town centre and a church recognised as of architectural merit. The larger facilities at St Edmund’s would also come with slightly greater cost, and I think we would need to raise at least £200k to make it work.
Whichever option we pursued, there would be little point if it did not enjoy sufficient support from parishioners.
There will always be questions for clarification and I am happy to deal with these in person or by email and will set up a blog if there are a number of common issues.
It is now time to hear the voice of the parish community on the preferred option to pursue. Bishop Richard will meet with the parish planning teams at the end of April to consider with them the feedback from parishioners and the way forward.
The report can be downloaded here and you can use an online form to give your feedback here. (Under 16’s please use form here.)
I would ask for responses to be in by Monday 1st April (extended from 18th March). Please do pass this on to those who might not be at Mass regularly, as we would like as many to respond as possible. The online form is best, but paper-based questionnaires are also available at the back of church.
May Mary, the Mother of God and Mother of the Church, pray for us and help us to bear witness to her Son.
Fr Jonathan How, Parish Priest