Saint Joseph

Introduction

The original design for the church was by W Kedo Broder. The south transept and chapel were opened in 1885 to the design of JS Hansom. The nave and chancel were completed by 1880. The north transept and north chapel were completed by 1906.

Architecture and furnishings

The church is built of Kentish rag with Bath stone dressings and a slate roof. The interior has an apsidal chancel of 7 bays with vault-shafts of Bath stone and vaulting of white Beere brick. The crossing has a sexpartite vault. The church has an organ gallery at the west end.

The west porch has a statue of Saint Joseph in the tympanum. The double doors of the west entrance have elaborate hinges. The church's apse has five sides, with two-light windows featuring trefoiled tracery and gabled buttresses between them. The south-east and north-east chapels each form five sides of an octagon, with similar windows under hoodmoulds and buttresses with a single offset.

The shallow transepts have two-light windows with a sexfoil above under hoodmoulds, flanked by gabled buttresses with one offset, and three stepped lancets in the gable. A single-storey vestry stands on the north-east side of the church. The nave has two bays with low, unwindowed aisles under a lean-to roof, while the clerestory has three-light windows with trefoiled tracery and two gabled buttresses with one offset. At the west end, a gabled porch contains a flat-arched entrance set under a pointed arch, with the archivolt mouldings dying into splayed reveals.

Above the west entrance are two pointed-arched windows, each with two lights and a cinquefoil above, under a single hoodmould with a vesica-shaped window in the spandrel. The west gable features three stepped lancets under a single hoodmould. To the left of the porch is a square stair tower, and to the right is a buttress. Steps to the west porch rise in two flights, with flanking walls crowned by a spiked rail.

Inside, a multi-shafted chancel arch combines with a two-bay arcade to the transepts, with foliage caps on the south columns and uncarved caps on the north. The transepts have slim columns with foliage capitals. The nave has two major bays relating to the stone-and-brick vaulting, as in the chancel, and four subsidiary bays relating to the arcade to passage-aisles, which consists of circular columns carrying abaci only.

Parish life

The parish runs a full programme of groups and opportunities for young adults and students, including weekly formation groups, mission, mentoring, socials, retreats and more. The parish runs a full programme of opportunities for faith formation and community-building for children of all ages. The Parish Wellbeing Group exists to help facilitate greater understanding and awareness amongst parishioners of mental health and mental ill health and of the local help available, seeking to reduce stigma and social isolation.

The parish offers baptism preparation courses for parents and carers, consisting of six sessions, a mixture of in-person and online, running four times per year. The parish runs “Family of Faith”, a series of monthly meetings offering formation in faith and prayer for families with children of primary-school age, suitable for those preparing for sacraments and those whose children have already received them.

The parish runs Alpha, a course that explores the questions of life, faith, meaning, and God. The parish runs ABC – About Becoming Catholic, a course exploring the Catholic faith. The parish offers talks on Catholic Social Teaching once a term at the Fitzherbert Community Hub.

The parish values partnerships with Brighton Table Tennis Club, The Real Junk Food Project, Voices in Exile and national bodies such as CAFOD and CARITAS. The parish's local initiatives promote social cohesion and the welfare and integration of asylum seekers and refugees. The parish's Young Adult and Student ministry reaches out to visitors from all over the world.

Regular events

Youth Alpha courses are run each year through the Proclaim youth group, starting in the autumn. Young people have opportunities to join the Lourdes pilgrimage and the Flame youth conference.

Visiting

The parish runs a Young Leaders programme for ages 14-17 encouraging service to the community. The parish runs a Care Group, befriending the elderly and isolated. The parish has a Ministry of Consolation to support the bereaved. The parish runs a Parents, Babies and Toddlers group with fortnightly meetings including prayer in the church.

The parish runs a Parenting For Faith group that meets weekly online. The parish runs a Music Outreach Project to enable young people to learn instruments and sing in a choir. The parish offers a 'pay as you feel' cafe with the Real Junk Food Project which tackles food poverty and social isolation.