St Joseph’s Church to officially reopen after a ceiling collapse forced a two-year closure

St Joseph’s Church in Tangier Road, Baffins, will celebrate its reopening on Saturday (January 11) after it was closed on December 20 2022 when part of the plaster fell from its ceiling above the choir loft.

Since then work has been ongoing to, at first, secure funding for repairs and then carry out the work itself.

Church administrator Angela Waldren explained: “On visiting the site, it was clear that the church would need to be closed, so the Diocese was contacted and they arranged for scaffolding to be erected in front of the choir loft.

“Because funding was required, there has been a considerable delay in securing this, but finally the Trustees of the Diocese agreed that we could go ahead with the repairs using funds from a generous legacy many years ago.

“Both box gutters have been completely replaced (the main cause of water ingress and the ceiling collapse). The roof has been completely checked and repaired where necessary, both manually and by drone survey.

“The church has been refurbished a number of times and when it has dried out, it will be redecorated. We need to raise money for this.”

The repair work was completed before the festive period which allowed the church to host Christmas and Boxing Day services, and on Saturday (January 11) its reopening will be celebrated with a procession from the church to Baffins Pond at 11am returning to the church for Benediction and then Mass at midday.

The administrator said: “This will be a collaborative celebration by the community of St Joseph’s, Corpus Christi and the Franciscan Marian Friars. Several civic dignitaries have been invited and we are delighted that the Lord Mayor will be attending. Unfortunately, due to previous commitments, Bishop Egan will be unable to attend.”

The church was built at the same time as Copnor Bridge and in 1908 the first Mass was celebrated on Christmas Day, with the first full congregation on August 28 1914.

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The church and Presbytery site was originally part of Baffins Farm with 2 and 4 Tangier Road purchased in 1914 to make way for what is now the church hall.

It is now part of the Parish of Corpus Christi with St Joseph’s and shares a Priest between both churches., with there being 16 Priests at St Joseph’s and many assistant Priests over the years.

In 2020, a community of Friars moved into the Presbytery as there is no longer a resident Priest at St Joseph’s. Previous “tenants” have been the Sisters of the Divine Mercy and the Diocesan Archives.