St. Teresa of the Child Jesus, Beaconsfield

Introduction

Saint Teresa of the Child Jesus in Beaconsfield was built in 1926, the year after the canonisation of Saint Therese of Lisieux, and was one of the first churches in England dedicated to her. The tower end of Saint Teresa of the Child Jesus in Beaconsfield, which includes the Martyrs Chapel, was completed as a memorial to Gilbert Keith Chesterton.

Music and liturgy

Our Lady's Chapel is fully restored. Saint Teresa of the Child Jesus in Beaconsfield is built in the neo-gothic style.

Plainsong sits alongside traditional music and modern liturgical music in the choir’s singing. An ear for harmony and the ability to read music help in the choir, which sings a variety of music. Singers unable to come every Sunday may still join the choir from time to time.

Parish life

During Mass, children are escorted to the parish’s Parish Centre and back again, so parents can remain in church. A Christmas Crib Service, Lenten activities and an Easter egg hunt in the presbytery garden are arranged by the parish during the year.

Overseas conferences in India and Grenada are twinned with the parish SVP conference. Local initiatives run by the parish CAFOD groups include cake bake sales and Lenten soup lunches. More than £2500 has been raised by a joint CAFOD team that the parish formed in February 2022 with Saint Dunstan’s Bourne End and Saint Augustine’s High Wycombe.

Collective action to reduce the church’s carbon footprint and to care for Our Common Home is the aim of the parish programme STEP UP. Food and activities usually shape the meetings, held every second month, of a group for younger parish members and friends aged 12 to 16.

Roles such as thurifer or acolyte are among the ways altar servers assist the priest at Mass and other services. Volunteers spend about two hours, once a month, cleaning the church silver, brass and corners. Flowers for the altar and the wider church at weekend and feast-day Masses are arranged by a small group.

The Word of God is proclaimed at Mass by readers, who also announce the intentions in the Prayers of the Faithful. Volunteer welcomers greet arrivals at weekend Masses and sometimes welcome people at parish activities.

Sacraments and pastoral care

Sharing our Faith is the name of the parish RCIA programme for adults exploring what it means to become a full member of the Catholic Church. A post-First Holy Communion group is for children who have made their First Holy Communion but are not yet confirmed.

Visiting

Visitors to Bekonscot Model Village, which stands opposite the church, may use the church car park that village signs lead into, and parking can also be reached by the Waitrose service road.