The Bishop has announced, with regret, the Closure of the Provisional Mission of Our Lady Star of the Sea and St Mildred’s, Birchington on Sea, Kent. Thanking Fr Raymond Thompson (Rochester) for the pastoral care he had provided to the Mission and the provision of monthly celebrations of Mass, the Bishop also paid tribute to Mrs Gillian Parry in whose home the Mission has for a number of years met.
Mrs Parry is now well into her 90’s and her increasing frailness has necessitated the decision.
The Bishop added that there had been high hopes in the early days that the Mission would flourish however this has not happened and numbers have never been large. St Augustine’s Canterbury remains the nearest ACC Church and is 30 minutes away by car and there is a direct train service to Canterbury from Birchington.
