St Augustine's Church

Welcome to Our Church!

Welcome to St Augustine's, a Catholic Parish in the centre of Darlington. No matter who you are, you are welcome in our parish! We are here to give glory to God through prayer, song, and action. We are blessed to have a beautiful church where we gather most days, particularly on Sunday, to listen to the Word of God and to celebrate the sacraments. God calls us to share our faith with others which we do through preaching, faith formation and sacramental preparation. We also share our faith by being here for those in need and accompanying those who struggle. Through a variety of social events, and making space for everyone, our community becomes a growing, caring and expanding family. You are welcome to join us!

Pastoral Strategy Process

PASTORAL STRATEGY: DISCERNING THE FUTURE FOR DARLINGTON

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

At time of writing we had a very successful and well-attended open-meeting on Tuesday and are anticipating an equally successful meeting on Friday. 

The meeting began with prayer and then participants were asked to move so that every table had the maximum possible representation of all Darlington parishes. The majority of the meeting was given to table discussion focussed on three questions:

• What do you love and value about your parish?

• The Partnership Pastoral Strategy Report says, “There was broad acceptance/ agreement that Darlington needs to be one parish with a few church buildings. Some suggested we should have three church buildings, others four.” How do you respond to this?

• If we went down to four buildings which should they be? If we went down to three buildings which should they be?

A key element was listening to those with different perspectives and experiences with respect, mutual care and love. There was time for each table to report back on their discussions.

As last week was half term and some people have expressed a preference for a daytime meeting, we plan to have a third meeting on Saturday 7th November, 1:30-3pm at St Thomas’s Parish Hall.

Notes from the table discussions will be collated and the results used to produce a one page questionnaire allowing more people to contribute their thoughts. It is hoped that we will then be in a position to produce a proposal that we can put back to all parishioners. We anticipate holding a final open meeting, all in plenary, before submitting our proposal to Bishop Stephen.

Any donation (large or small) helps contribute to the maintenance and upkeep of the Parish, its online services (including this website), and its buildings. For those who wish to contribute to St Augustine’s parish, which we are extremely grateful for, there is a button below which will allow you to donate online: