St Joseph, Upminster

Introduction

St Joseph, Upminster, in the Diocese of Brentwood, traces its Catholic roots to a church established in Romford in 1856 to serve the area including Upminster.

History

The original church was opened on 25 January 1923, built with proceeds of a fête on land at the corner of St Mary's Lane and Sunnyside Gardens. The completed Parish Church of Saint Joseph was opened and blessed by the Bishop on 28 October 1939. In 2023 the centenary of the parish was marked, including a prayer garden dedicated to Our Lady and an angelus bell. The foundation stone of the present church was laid and blessed by Bishop Doubleday on 25 March 1939. The parish was established in 1923 when a modest church was erected in Sunnyside Gardens, Upminster.

Music and liturgy

Funeral music in church is generally played or accompanied by an organist, sometimes with a vocal or instrumental soloist, and an organist can usually be sourced from within the parish.

Parish life

The parish covers a large area extending beyond Upminster, including the villages of Cranham, North Ockenden, West Horndon and Bulphan. The parish is part of the Havering Deanery, which broadly corresponds with the London Borough of Havering.

The church shares a site with St Joseph's Catholic Primary School, and many children of the parish belong to the school. Children and staff from the school are welcomed into church regularly for school or year group Masses. Many of the parish's children go on to the Sacred Heart of Mary Girls' School within the parish, or to Campion School in Hornchurch.

Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion are sent out from Sunday Mass each week to bring Communion to the sick and housebound. The parish priest and others regularly visit residents in care homes within the parish.

Every other month the parish holds a baptism preparation session on a Saturday morning. The Confirmation programme for teenagers usually runs from the autumn, leading up to a celebration at Pentecost. The parish invites young people to begin the confirmation programme when they are in year 10 at school.

First Holy Communion celebrations normally take place in May or June, with children attending classes starting the previous autumn. Children are prepared for First Reconciliation as part of their journey towards First Holy Communion, beginning in the autumn.

A group of enquirers begins a journey towards membership of the church each autumn, with possible reception into the Church at Easter. The church has the facility to live-stream services, including funerals on request.

The parish directs those discerning a vocation to speak to the parish priest and/or contact the diocesan vocations team. The parish recommends Marriage Care for trained counselling and Retrouvaille for couples experiencing difficulty in marriage. The parish advises allowing a minimum of six months for wedding preparation. Couples who grew up in the parish and still have family links are welcomed back, subject to the agreement of the parish where they live.

Visiting

Visitors arriving by car will find a few parking spaces in front of the church, with on-street parking on Champion Road and a nearby car park adjacent to the New Windmill Hall on St Mary's Lane. A prayer board in the church invites prayer requests, which are gathered weekly by the parish Prayer Group. The church has full facilities for the disabled and a loop system for hearing aid users.