Welcome to our Parish

Welcome to the website of the Catholic Parish of St. Edmund, King and Martyr. The Parish Church of St. Edmund is located in Croft Road, in the centre of Godalming, and its sister Church, St. Joseph's in Milford, can be found on Portsmouth Road in Milford.

Click on the links to the left of the page to explore our site.

To mark the centenary of the Catholic Parish of St Edmund, a commemorative history was published in 1999. It was written by Bernard Polack and John Whitbourn, two parishioners. Ann Lloyd wrote a chapter on St Edmund's Church and Michael Hoad contributed the photographs. It is an excellent read (of course) and copies may be obtained for £3.00 each. If you would like to buy a copy, please email this website and we will send you details. The following background is taken from the history.

Where we are

The parish of Godalming covers an area of approximately 100 square miles, being bounded on the north by the parish of Guildford, on the east by the parishes of Bramley and Cranleigh, on the south by the parish of Haslemere and on the west by the parish of Farnham. Godalming is the only town in the parish but there are large villages to the west and south west, as well as rural areas.

The parish church is the Church of St Edmund, King & Martyr in Godalming and there is a sister church, St Joseph's, in Milford. In addition, Mass is celebrated each Sunday morning in the Anglican Church of St John the Evangelist at Farncombe.

We have a parish school, St Edmund's Catholic Primary School, in The Drive, Godalming, and a convent of the Franciscan Missionaries of the Divine Motherhood at Ladywell.

The Diocesan Directory 1999 gives the average Mass attendance in the parish as 426. In the 1960s, though, it was 900.

Three young men from the parish have entered the priesthood: Fr Christopher Spender, Fr Dove and Fr Reynold.

RCIA

In January 1993, under the leadership of Ian Honeysett, the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA) course was held in the parish for those wishing to know more about the Catholic faith. These courses have run almost every year since then, usually from the Autumn to Easter.