This year has seen even more parishes being “paired” because of the shortage of priests. This means two or more parishes being put under the responsibility of one parish priest. We saw this happen to St Joseph’s Church in Carpenders Park in 2024. When Fr John Warnaby sadly passed away, Fr Tom Montgomery succeeded him as parish priest, in addition to his responsibility as parish priest of St Matthew’s in Northwood.

In January, the Stonebridge and Neasden parishes merged as one and last month it was announced that the newly created parish of Stonebridge and Neasden will undergo further changes as it will be paired with the Our Lady of Willesden Church, with Fr Stephen Willis as the parish priest of both. This will mean that Stonebridge and Neasden will not have a resident priest.

The latest pairing to be announced is that of the churches of The English Martyrs and St Joseph, both in Wembley. They will now share one parish priest: Fr Joseph Kaduthanam.

What does this mean for our parish? Will St Theresa’s be next to be paired with another church? Here are the facts: St Theresa’s is a small parish with Sunday attendance of fewer than 300 people. This in itself is not necessarily a problem—there are many parishes even smaller than we are—but we have run on a deficit for a few years now which means that if our weekly collections do not increase, the parish will no longer be able to support itself financially in less than five years. Further, we have relatively few volunteers, far fewer than we need to keep the parish running smoothly without putting much of the workload on the parish priest’s shoulders. St Theresa’s is also not an active parish—the level of participation is low. Parish events we organise are poorly supported and attended.

Archbishop Richard will look at and consider all of these things when considering the future of the diocese. It is up to us to show that we should remain as one parish. The future of St Theresa’s is truly in YOUR hands.