New era beckons for Catholic community in Maidenhead as parishes prepare to merge

A new era beckons for the Catholic community in Maidenhead and Twyford as the area’s individual parishes prepare to merge.

Parishes including St Joseph’s Church, in Cookham Road, St Edmund Campion, in Altwood Road, and Cookham’s St Elizabeth Church are set to come under one united group – known as the Holy Family Parish.

The move forms part of a restructuring across the Catholic Diocese of Portsmouth which aims to prepare the community for a future with fewer priests available and more elderly communities.

Churchgoers will not be impacted in the short-term after the parish’s priests agreed this week there would be no change to mass times until at least 2027.

Father Liam Cummins, who has been based at St Edmund Campion for the past eight years, told the Advertiser: “For the ordinary punter coming to church, there will be very little difference.

“It’s mainly for administrative purposes, bringing three or four offices into one and bringing administration into one centre.

“St Joseph’s will still retain its character, St Edmund Campion will keep its character, we’ll still have all the same masses.”

He added: “We no longer have the amount of priests we used to have years ago.

“We’ve got a clergy of five but it’s envisaged that in years to come, the parish runs with two clergy.

“We have four or five masses all around the same time so we have to look at the possibility of having maybe one mass in the morning, one at midday and one in the evening.

“But for the moment, nothing is changing.”

On Sunday, a final mass for St Joseph’s Parish will be held at 11am with an inaugural mass for the new Holy Family Parish following at 3pm.

The day takes on extra significance with it coinciding with Pentecost Sunday – which marks 50 days since the resurrection of Jesus.

Flags will be erected on the day to celebrate the 66 different nationalities which make up the Catholic community in Maidenhead .

Father Liam added: “We represent Africa, Asia, Europe, South America, North America, Oceania, the islands of the Caribbean, it’s amazing.

“What’s beautiful is to see people coming in and they see their home flags and they rush to it and take photographs and send them home. It’s not about nationalism, it’s about our diversity and unity as one church.”

The Catholic community continues to thrive in the town with around 750 people attending St Edmund Campion and 700 attending St Joseph’s each weekend.

The recent election of Pope Leo XIV, who has undertaken extensive missionary work overseas, has also been welcomed by the community.

Father Liam, who himself spent more than 20 years carrying out missionary work in Kenya and Cameroon, added: “For us, Pope Leo looks like a good choice and is someone with a global vision.

“With so much war, hatred and violence going on, it’s lovely to have some people in the world who are into unity, inclusion and diversity being embraced.”