St. Teresa of the Child Jesus, Princes Risborough

Introduction

Giuseppe Rinvolucri of Piedmont, then living in Conwy, designed the permanent church of Saint Teresa of the Child Jesus in Princes Risborough, which opened on Whit Monday 1938 in a style he called Modern Byzantine. Francesco Gallo, the Piedmontese baroque architect, influenced the church, built in honour of Saint Teresa as a shrine, which looks more Italian than English. A triangle with an apse on each side forms the plan, together with a high central dome, five other rounded roofs and two smaller flat roofs, the rounded and domed roofs being steel-reinforced concrete covered in tiles.

History

On the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes, 11 February 1923, the first Mass in Princes Risborough since the Reformation was celebrated in the hall next to the church known as the Walsingham Hall. Convert Alan Turner, on whom the early Princes Risborough Mission depended, prepared the hall for Mass for years and arranged for a priest to celebrate it. A Breton priest pressed a permanent-church appeal in the newspapers and made a shrine to Saint Teresa with a recumbent deathbed statue from Lisieux. The hope expressed by Father Dreves in 1938 was that the church would be a wayside shrine for people passing on their journey through life. Funding for the church, and substantial gifts for the interior, came from Eugène Randag, his wife Beatrice and her brother Bernard Alexander.

Architecture and furnishings

Either side of the statue of Saint Teresa, two glass doors at the west end formed the original entrance, and two stained-glass roundels hang in that position. The internal wall of the sacristy holds the foundation stone. Light came from high up in an interior that was originally plain and austere and contained no stained glass. In 1938 Richard Guino made the external statue of Saint Teresa.

Denis Tegetmeier, son-in-law of Eric Gill, designed oak benches with integral kneelers. Eugène Randag provided the oak for the benches. Rosamund Fletcher was commissioned to carve communion rails with symbols of the sacraments, and the rails were erected in 1955. The golden triptych presents salvation through the Blood of the Lamb, with God's grace pouring from Christ's sacrifice into the church and parish.

Wooden communion rails bought for the temporary church in 1928 stood across the original sanctuary until the carved rails arrived, and were then moved to the front of Our Lady's Chapel. At the reordering the original marble high altar was moved into Saint Teresa's Chapel, where the recumbent statue from the temporary church's shrine lies across it. At the reordering the carved communion rails were taken from the original sanctuary and cut to fit across the front of Saint Teresa's Chapel.

Music and liturgy

Parents attend a baptism preparation meeting about the baptismal liturgy and about raising children in the Catholic faith. The Children’s Liturgy of the Word adapts the Sunday Gospel through a discussed theme, a simpler Gospel reading, and an activity that helps children connect it with their lives.

At the start of Mass, children are invited to process from the church to the Clubroom for children’s liturgy. The children who left for children’s liturgy return to the church after the bidding prayers.

The choir has a particular part in the Advent Service and in a community singing occasion. Joining the parish choir or the Christmas Choir does not require the ability to read music. A group of musicians and singers provides music for Saturday Mass. Every four weeks the musicians gather after Mass for a shared supper and then choose music to complement the readings of the weeks ahead.

Parish life

The name of a person who has died can be included in the bidding prayers at weekend Masses. Books and toys from a box in the narthex may be taken into Mass and returned when leaving.

Parishioners arrange flowers for the church except during Advent and Lent. Volunteers clean only the ground floor, while contract cleaners clean the gallery and the narthex.

The parish CAFOD group was formed to raise funds for one particular project, beyond Family Fast Day, CAFOD envelopes and the Christmas Fayre. The CAFOD group meets about four times a year in the Clubroom.

The parish is one of the churches in Churches Together in Risborough. Communion is distributed from the altar steps by the parish priest and eucharistic ministers.

The church car park can be used during services. A car parked in the church car park may be blocked in by other parishioners for the whole service. The parish Mission is a diocesan-led programme with a small core team for planning.

Sacraments and pastoral care

Confirmation preparation begins in October and runs every two years, with the celebration held in March. Boys and girls may become altar servers once they have received First Holy Communion.

The Pastoral Parish Council brings the parish’s active groups together and meets four times a year. The parish reaches out to parishioners who are bereaved, including some who have been bereaved for many years.

Visiting

A ramp gives access to the church for pushchairs and wheelchairs. The narthex has an accessible toilet with an emergency pull alarm. A hearing loop is available in the church during services.