St Anselm's Church is a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

church which is part of the

Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham The Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham in England and Wales is a personal ordinariate in the Latin Church of the Catholic Church immediately exempt, being directly subject to the Holy See. It is within the territory of the Catholic ...

Pembury Pembury is a large village in Kent, in the south east of England, with a population of 6,128 at the 2011 census. It lies just to the north-east of Royal Tunbridge Wells. The village centre, including the village green and High Street area is a ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

, England. It was originally founded in the 1960s as a

chapel-of-ease A chapel of ease (or chapel-of-ease) is a church architecture, church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently, generally due to trav ...

later serving as a Mass Centre before becoming its own quasi-parish within the

personal ordinariate A personal ordinariate for former Anglicans, shortened as personal ordinariate or Anglican ordinariate,"Bishop Stephen Lopes of the Anglican Ordinariate of the Chair of St Peter..." is a canonical structure within the Catholic Church establis ...

in 2011, following a conversion of a large number of

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

s in

Royal Tunbridge Wells Royal Tunbridge Wells (formerly, until 1909, and still commonly Tunbridge Wells) is a town in Kent, England, southeast of Central London. It lies close to the border with East Sussex on the northern edge of the Weald, High Weald, whose sand ...

History

St Anselm's Church was originally constructed in 1964 as the hall/chapel for a new church that would be part of the Catholic Pembury and

Paddock Wood Paddock Wood is a town and civil parish in the borough of Tunbridge Wells in Kent, England, about southwest of Maidstone. At the 2001 Census it had a population of 8,263, falling marginally to 8,253 at the 2011 Census. Paddock Wood is a centre ...

Mission. However, the church remained at

until 1978 when Pembury and Paddock Wood became a parish. The planned church in Pembury's presbytery was sold in 1978, leaving Pembury without a Catholic place of worship. A small chapel was added to the hall in 1980 to alleviate this, though it lost its certification as a registered place of worship. Until 2011, it was used as a chapel-of-ease for the Paddock Wood parish. In 2011, St Anselm's was granted the status of quasi-parish by the

Archbishop of Southwark The Archbishop of Southwark (''Br'' �sʌðɨk is the ordinary of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Southwark. As such, he is the Metropolitan of the Province of Southwark. The archdiocese has an area of and covers the London Boroughs south o ...

, This came about because it had become a part of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham for Anglican converts, allowing former members of the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

to break away and join the Catholic church whilst retaining Anglican traditions in the liturgy. The majority of St Anselm's congregation are former Anglicans who had come from the Church of England's St Barnabas' Church, Royal Tunbridge Wells, led by their Anglican vicar who would become the priest of St Anselm's. For its first three years, the church had few sacred ornaments, relied on a temporary altar on wheels to conduct services, and shared its space with community groups. With funding from parishioners and neighbouring Catholic parishes, a permanent altar,

Stations of the Cross The Stations of the Cross or the Way of the Cross, also known as the Via Dolorosa, Way of Sorrows or the , are a series of fourteen images depicting Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ on the day of Crucifixion of Jesus, his crucifixion and acc ...

, and other church furnishings were installed with a

lychgate A lychgate (from Old English ''līc'', corpse) or resurrection gate is a covered gateway found at the entrance to a traditional English or English-style churchyard. Examples also exist outside the British Isles in places such as Newfoundland, the ...

built outside, allowing the church to be used solely for Christian worship.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Anselm's Church, Pembury Personal ordinariates Roman Catholic churches in Kent Roman Catholic churches completed in 2011 Churches completed in 1964 21st-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United Kingdom