Click on the photo for an enlargement.

I have been following the developments of my Bishop’s new church near Faversham in Kent, and this photo has appeared just after the carpeting was laid and the windows covered with a special plastic film to make them look like Victorian stained glass. This is a “fish-eye” view, so the altar rails and roof beam are straight, not curved.

Our Diocesan website announces:

The Anglican Catholic Church of St Augustine of Canterbury, Eastling Road, Painters Forstal, Nr Faversham, Kent ME13 0DU will celebrate its first public worship in its new Church on Ash Wednesday (14th February 2018) at 12 noon with Low Mass and Imposition of Ashes.

This is a wonderful achievement, and the Methodists who once worshipped in this church are commemorated on a brass plate on the wall to the right of the altar. The architecture is plain and lends itself well to the new furnishing as a church of Catholic tradition. The round-topped lancet windows are a real asset. The furnishing is reminiscent of the old church in Canterbury (many items transported and fitted), and the altar is sober and in the Anglo-Catholic style that is found in many churches in England.

Again, I am proud to be one of Bishop Damien Mead’s priests, and look forward to worshipping in this church, and perhaps saying Mass. A visible place of worship is always an asset to the Church’s mission both in England and in the USA.