Bishop Damien has made this announcement:
Today, Thursday 1st February 2024, is a day of wonderful thanksgiving for our Diocese.
8.5 years earlier than expected, the Mortgage on the Anglican Catholic Church’s Pro-Cathedral of St Augustine of Canterbury, Painters Forstal, Kent, has been redeemed in full, and the building is debt free. This Church is thus the first building exclusively owned outright by the Anglican Catholic Church in the United Kingdom, (as opposed to being owned by individuals), since the foundation of our Diocese in 1992.
In celebration of this notable achievement we have arranged, Dv., for the consecration of the building on Saturday 1st June 2024 during a Pontifical High Mass, and thereafter “Pro” will be dropped from the building’s designation and it will henceforth be known as the Cathedral Church of St Augustine of Canterbury.
This celebration will be within the Octave of our Patronal Feast Day, and the day before the building celebrates the 151st anniversary of its own original foundation as a Wesleyan Methodist Church. It will be 19 years since the foundation of the Parish, and 6 years since the purchase of the building in Painters Forstal.
We are aware of the humble size of St Augustine’s, and the expectations the general public have when they imagine a “Cathedral”, but such a designation is not dependent on size, but on the function it fulfils.
St Augustine houses my Chair, or Cathedra, as Bishop Ordinary of our Diocese. It is a focal point for our work and ministry and bears witness to the working of the Holy Spirit in our Church.
We are grateful beyond measure to all those faithful souls who have made this possible, and especially for the assistance and support we have received from the Diocesan Trustees and Council, and thank Almighty God for their devotion and commitment.