St Laurence's Church, Cambridge
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The Church of St Laurence is a
Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
church in
Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...
, England. Dedicated to St Laurence of Rome, it is part of the
Diocese of East Anglia The Roman Catholic Diocese of East Anglia is a diocese of the Latin Church of the Roman Catholic Church covering the counties of Cambridgeshire, Norfolk, Suffolk, and Peterborough in eastern England. The diocese makes up part of the Catholic As ...
, within the
Province of Westminster The Catholic dioceses in Great Britain are organised by two separate hierarchies: the Catholic Church in England and Wales, and the Catholic Church in Scotland. Within Great Britain, the Catholic Church of England and Wales has five province ...
. The parish is part of St Andrew's Deanery and is one of three parishes serving the city of Cambridge, the other two being
Our Lady and the English Martyrs The Church of Our Lady of the Assumption and the English Martyrs, also known as the Church of Our Lady and the English Martyrs (OLEM), is an English Roman Catholic parish church located at the junction of Hills Road and Lensfield Road in southeast ...
and St Philip Howard.


History of the parish and church

The first permanent post-Reformation Roman Catholic church in Cambridge was
Our Lady and the English Martyrs The Church of Our Lady of the Assumption and the English Martyrs, also known as the Church of Our Lady and the English Martyrs (OLEM), is an English Roman Catholic parish church located at the junction of Hills Road and Lensfield Road in southeast ...
opened and consecrated on 8 October 1890. The Roman Catholic population continued to grow and the opening of a
Carmelite , image = , caption = Coat of arms of the Carmelites , abbreviation = OCarm , formation = Late 12th century , founder = Early hermits of Mount Carmel , founding_location = Mount Car ...
convent A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican ...
at 104-106 Chesterton Road in 1923 provided a new place of worship on the Northern side of the town. In 1937 the Carmelite sisters moved to a quieter site at
Waterbeach Waterbeach is an expanding village north of Cambridge on the edge of The Fens, in the South Cambridgeshire district of Cambridgeshire, England. It was designated a "new town" in 2018. History Early periods Waterbeach is on the Car Dyke, a Rom ...
, into a building which, when vacated in the early 1970s, became the Waterbeach Lodge residential home for the elderly. Following the departure of the Carmelites from Cambridge, the need for a new parish gradually became apparent and within a year there was a significant donation of £250 towards establishing a new mass centre or church for Roman Catholics in Chesterton. In the years immediately after the Carmelite sisters left, Masses were said in private houses and informal venues until a small corrugated iron church was erected on the High Street in Chesterton. In 1947 this became the new Parish of St Laurence's, with the presbytery for the parish priest located at 1 Ferry Lane. With the arrival of the Rev. Patrick Oates in 1951, efforts to fund raise and build a permanent church were accelerated. On 8 March 1958, Bishop Parker laid the foundation stone on the
Milton Road Milton Road is an arterial road in Brisbane, Australia. It is currently signed as State Route 32 for its entire length. Milton Road is a major corridor for traffic between the Brisbane central business district and the western suburbs. It car ...
site and on 24 August 1958, the new church was formally blessed and dedicated. The old corrugated iron church building was originally part of the First Eastern General Hospital, Cambridge. After the First World War it was moved to the rectory garden of Our Lady and the English Martyrs and named Houghton Hall. In 1939 it became St Laurence's Church. Following the opening of the new church in 1958, the tin tabernacle was moved to its present site in
Fen Ditton Fen Ditton is a village on the northeast edge of Cambridge in Cambridgeshire, England. The parish covers an area of . Fen Ditton lies on the east bank of the River Cam, on the road from Cambridge to Clayhithe, and close to junction 34 of the A ...
and became the Church of St Vincent de Paul. Reported in


Architecture and appearance of the church

St Laurence's is a modern church, built in brick and with an open layout so that all parts of the church can see the altar area. The church has remained substantially unchanged since it was opened, with the exception of the removal of altar rails and the redesign of the altar following the
Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the , or , was the 21st Catholic ecumenical councils, ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church. The council met in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome for four periods (or sessions) ...
. The porch was changed slightly around the time of the millennium, putting a glass roof on it to improve light. In the first decade of the twenty-first century a balcony was also constructed at the back of the church to increase capacity for the growing congregation.


Parish priests and clergy

In addition to parish priests the following additional priests have served the parish: Revs Peter Stoyle (1963-1964), Paul Hypher (1964-1967), Derrick Morgan (1967-1970), John Drury as curate (1970-1972), Timothy Russ (1972-1976), Francis Selman (1976-1979), Michael Vulliamy (1980-1982), Callum Weir (1981-1983) and Joseph Farrell (1983-1986) The parish has had the following permanent deacons: Rev Geoffrey Cook (1978-)


Parish statistics

The following table records the number of baptisms (of children), receptions (of adults) into the church, marriages and the number attending Sunday mass (as counted on the annual census Sunday).


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cambridge, Saint Laurence
Saint Laurence Saint Lawrence or Laurence ( la, Laurentius, lit. " laurelled"; 31 December AD 225 – 10 August 258) was one of the seven deacons of the city of Rome under Pope Sixtus II who were martyred in the persecution of the Christians that the Roman ...
Roman Catholic churches completed in 1958 Christian organizations established in 1947 20th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United Kingdom