Holy Redeemer

Introduction

Holy Redeemer is a Roman Catholic parish church in Pershore, built in 1958-9 to designs by Hugh Bankart, FRIBA. In 1957 a new church was planned by the new priest, for which the diocese offered a loan of £10,000. The church opened in time for Easter 1959.

Architecture and furnishings

The church is built of red brick, laid in Flemish bond, with artificial stone dressings; the roof structure is of steel, covered in clay Roman tiles. The church has a simple rectangular plan. The west front has a flat-roofed narthex across most of its width, with the roof continuing beyond on either side to form canopies over the side doors. The main entrance opens to the baptistery with its stone font, centrally placed in the narthex in line with the altar.

The principal original furnishings include the Portland stone high altar and the altars in the Blessed Sacrament and Lady chapels, all carved by Joseph Cribb of Ditchling. The hammered anodised figure of the Risen Christ against a cross and the altar fittings in the side chapels are by Michael Murray. The octagonal stone font is by John Skelton and is set within a sunken circle. The low-relief Portland stone Stations of the Cross, two of which had been exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1959, were carved by Rosamund Fletcher of Oxford. The stained glass roundels in the Blessed Sacrament chapel (Last Supper) and Lady Chapel (Annunciation) are by Philip Brown.

Music and liturgy

The church was designed with a central altar to encourage full and active participation of the congregation in the liturgy. The altar was set forward to allow for Mass to be said with the priest facing the people. The Blessed Sacrament was reserved in a separate chapel. The church represents an important, early response to liturgical change, before such ideas became widespread through the Second Vatican Council. Holy Redeemer has been a full partner of the Pershore Foodbank, affiliated to the Trussell Trust, since the foodbank's very beginnings.