St. Patrick, Northampton

Introduction

The present church was dedicated on 27 May 1994. The first brick church on Peveril Road opened in 1953, seating about 200.

History

The parish has its roots in the Diocesan Travelling Mission, which brought Mass to Duston from Northampton in the 1930s. In 1939 the Diocesan Travelling Mission brought Mass to Duston. Weekly Mass was established in Duston in 1940. Duston was designated a Mass Centre of the diocese in 1941.

Land on Peveril Road was purchased for a church in 1947. The 1953 brick church was dedicated to St Patrick and opened on 26 April 1953. In 1955 the Bishop of Northampton, acting at the direction of the Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Liverpool, invited the English Greyfriars to take pastoral care of western Duston and Dallington. In 1956 Pond House, opposite the church, was purchased and became the Franciscan community house.

Following a Province Chapter decision in 1985, a permanent presbytery was constructed at St Patrick's; upon completion in 1986 the new Parish Priest moved in and Pond House was disposed of. By the early 1990s the congregation had outgrown the 1953 church; the parish temporarily moved weekend Mass to the Duston Village Institute while a new nave was raised over the ruins of the old building.

The current building was finished and the opening and dedication occurred on 27 May 1994. The present church was served by diocesan priests for twenty years until 2013, when a new pastoral team arrived.

The Guardian of the Friary turned the sacristy at St Patrick's into temporary living quarters. After the Provincial Chapter of 1970, a new Franciscan Study Centre was established in Canterbury and the novitiate was moved to Pond House. The Cathedral had acquired land in Dallington to build St Margaret of Cortona, which the Franciscans would also run. Pond House was disposed of and the novitiate transferred to a Friary at Barton-on-Irwell near Eccles.

The Friars decided to relinquish St Margaret's Church in Dallington and pass it over to the care of the Diocese. While construction began on the current building, the parish moved to temporarily attending weekend Mass in Duston Village Institute and, on occasion, weekday Mass in the Presbytery.

In 1939, for the first time since the Reformation, a Roman Catholic service was held in Duston at the Village Institute. By 1940, sheer demand necessitated an irregular mission becoming a weekly Sunday Mass. An assistant priest from the Cathedral established a Diocesan Travelling Mission, driving a light van loaded with all necessities for liturgy across the western Northamptonshire countryside.

Architecture and furnishings

The 1953 brick church was built for the ancient Tridentine rite, while the church that replaced it was designed for the reformed liturgy. A stained-glass window in the present church depicts St Maximilian Kolbe (1894–1941), a Conventual Franciscan, commemorating the Franciscan years on Peveril Road.

Two devotional images have a settled place in the parish: the Sacred Heart of Jesus and Our Lady with the Christ Child. A statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, with flowers, is kept at the side of the nave.

Parish life

Home Communion brings Holy Communion to parishioners who cannot attend Mass due to illness or age. Lay catechists lead First Holy Communion and Confirmation preparation, with classes after Sunday Mass during term time.

The parish runs a food bank box on a table to the right as you enter the church. A confidential prayer group prays for intentions written in the Prayer Intentions Book at the back of the church.

The parish is administered by the parish priest with the support of a Parish Pastoral Council and a Finance Committee, both made up of volunteer parishioners. Bereavement Support offers visits and pastoral support for families in grief and assistance with funeral Masses.

Regular events

The Enrolment Mass is celebrated each June, when candidates are formally presented to the parish. The Confirmation Mass is celebrated at Pentecost by the Bishop of Northampton.

In Advent there is a first parent meeting and a retreat day for children. There is a Lent retreat weekend with young people from other parishes. The Advent and Christmas schedule is published at the start of December, and the Holy Week and Easter schedule at the start of Lent.

Visiting

The parish is on Peveril Road in Duston, about two miles west of Northampton town centre. The postcode for sat navs is NN5 6JW. A map shows the church on Peveril Road.

The church has a car park accessed from Peveril Road and level access at the main door. Visitors with specific accessibility requirements can ring the parish priest in advance for arrangements such as a reserved space, a ramp, or sign-language help. The Parish Meeting Room is open with books and fidget toys for children unsettled at Mass.