FSSP Reading Raised to the Rank of Personal Parish

On September 8th, 2018, the feast of the Nativity of Our Lady, Bishop Philip Egan of the Diocese of Portsmouth, UK, raised our apostolate in Reading to the rank of a personal parish. The FSSP has served the Latin Mass community in Reading, about 40 miles west of London, for seventeen years, and the community is now established as the Parish of St. John Fisher. The new parish, the FSSP’s first personal parish in the UK and only our fourth in Europe, will continue to function out of St. William of York Church until it finds a permanent home. Fr. Andrzej Komorowski, Superior General of the FSSP, said in a joint press release with the Diocese:

“The establishment of this Parish represents an important step, firstly for our priests and parishioners in Reading, but also for the FSSP’s apostolic endeavours elsewhere. This is the first such parish in the UK and only the FSSP’s fourth in Europe after Rome, Amsterdam and Thalwil, Switzerland. I am very grateful to Bishop Egan and the diocesan staff involved in the creation of the Parish, to our priests who have ministered in Reading over the years and of course to the faithful for their spiritual and financial support.”

Fr. Matthew Goddard, who has led the Reading community since 2015, was appointed as the pastor of the new parish, and Fr. Patrick O’Donohue of the Diocese of Galway and Fr. Seth Phipps continue in their roles as assistants. Fr. Phipps, who attended Our Lady of Guadalupe Seminary and was ordained this past June at St. Mary’s Shrine in Warrington, joined Reading on the 1st of this month when former assistant Fr. James Mawdsley was reassigned to our apostolate in Vienna, Austria.

You can read the full press release here, and you can learn more about the new parish at their website here.

We give abundant thanks to God for this great gift, and we ask you to please pray for the furthering of our work throughout the UK and the continent of Europe.