The 2000's
The Third Millennium
01
The Third Millennium - Early 2000's
In 2000, Canon David Mahy was sent to Aldershot after 24 years as Parish Priest and Dean of Jersey. During his time in Aldershot, the Pastoral Areas were formed in the Diocese of Portsmouth in place of Deaneries and Fr David became the Co-Ordinating Pastor for the North East Hampshire Pastoral Area in addition to his responsibility for St Joseph's and St Mary's.
In 2004, after Formation at St John's Seminary in Wonersh, Antonio (Tony) D'Mello was ordained to the Sacred Order of Deacon on 4th July in St John's Cathedral, Portsmouth by Bishop Crispian Hollis. He has served all his ministry in Aldershot, from 2004-2018 in Aldershot Catholic Community and since 2019 at the Cathedral of the Bishop of the Forces.
After 37 years as a priest in the diocese, Fr Peter Doyle was appointed Bishop of Northampton in 2005; a position he held until March 2020 when he returned to the Diocese of Portsmouth in retirement.
02
2010's
In June 2010 a wonderful weekend of celebrations was held to celebrate Fr David's Golden Jubilee as Priest.
In 2011, the All Hallows' Secondary School celebrated its Golden Jubilee. As part of the celebrations, Bishop Peter Doyle returned to celebrate a special Pontifical Mass in the School Hall and after the Mass he buried a time capsule in the school grounds. Two students who were servers at St Joseph's Church served at the Mass.
In 2012, Fr David retired to Portsmouth, the City of his birth and continues to support the priestly ministry at St John's Cathedral where he previously ministered in the 1970's as a young priest.
In September 2012 Fr Chris Whelan came to Aldershot following seven years as Parish Priest of St John Bosco in Woodley, near Reading and before that as a Deacon and Assistant Priest in Fareham. Shortly after his arrival, Bishop Philip Egan was Ordained to the Episcopate as the eighth Bishop of Portsmouth following the retirement of Bishop Crispian Hollis.
In 2013, after a few months in the parish, Fr Chris led celebrations for the Centenary of the Opening of St Joseph's Church (January 1913) and the Golden Jubilee of the Dedication of St Mary's (March 1963).
In 2014, a new Sixth Form Centre and Concert Hall was opened. As a testament to Canon Daniel O'Hanlon's legacy, the Coffee Shop in the new building is called "Father Dan's"!
In 2016, after Formation at the Maryvale Institute and St Mary's College Oscott in Birmingham, Craig Aburn was ordained to the Sacred Order of Deacon on Saturday 2nd July in St John's Cathedral, Portsmouth by Bishop Philip Egan.
In December 2016, Ansel D'Mello (Deacon Tony's son) was ordained as a (transitional) Deacon at St John's Seminary in Wonersh and ordained to the Sacred Priesthood for our Diocese by Bishop Philip Egan in St John's Cathedral on Sunday 25th June 2017, both alongside Robert Stewart, our future parish priest. Fr Ansel celebrated his First Sunday Mass on Sunday 2nd July 2017 in St Joseph's Church, assisted by Deacon Tony and Deacon Craig.
Fr Chris Whelan left us in September 2017 after he was appointed Parish Priest of St Joseph's Basingstoke.
In September 2017, Fr Anthony Glaysher came to Aldershot following nine years as Parish Priest of St Mary's Ryde and St Michael's Bembridge, Isle of Wight and before that as a Deacon and Assistant Priest in Winchester, Abingdon and Guernsey.
During the 2017-18 Academic Year, St Joseph's Primary School held many and varied celebrations for their 150th anniversary, including a visit from Bishop Philip Egan to celebrate Mass for St Joseph's Day on an unseasonably snowy day.
2019 saw the 150th anniversary of the establishment of Aldershot Catholic Community as a Diocesan Parish. From 1869-1882 as part of the then Diocese of Southwark and since 1882 as part of the Diocese of Portsmouth. The 150th anniversary celebrations began on 30th January 2019, the 106th anniversary of the opening of the present St Joseph's Church with a Votive Mass of St Joseph, celebrated by Fr Anthony Glaysher and followed by a party in the Presbytery. On St Joseph's Day, 19th March 2019, a Pontifical Solemn Mass was celebrated by the Rt. Rev. Dom Cuthbert Brogan OSB, Abbot of Farnborough. In July 2019, the parish was blessed with a visit of the Miraculous Relic Image of Our Lady of Guadalupe (from the Shrine at Bedford) to St Joseph's church which brought many graces and many visitors to the parish. The Mass of Welcome for the Image was celebrated by the Rt. Rev. Mgr. Keith Newton PA, Ordinary of the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham. Bishop Philip Egan undertook a Pastoral Visitation of the parish in September 2019. In October 2019, Deacon Craig Aburn took part in two Masses of Thanksgiving for the Canonisation of St John Henry Newman and we celebrated Fr Anthony Glaysher's 60th birthday.
03
2020s...
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020, St Joseph's Day was quite poignant marking the last Sung Mass to be celebrated in the parish for three months due to the unprecedented closure of all churches for public Mass. It was also the day Bishop Peter Doyle retired as Bishop of Northampton following the Episcopal Ordination of his successor. St Joseph's reopened for the public celebration of Mass on 4th July and St Mary's on 11th July.
From July 2020 and through much of 2021, parish life continued within the pandemic restrictions causing necessary adaptations to worship, celebration of the sacraments and pastoral visiting.
By October 2021 we were able to have a small gathering after Sunday Mass to celebrate Deacon Craig's 50th birthday. At the end of Mass, Fr Anthony presented him with a Relic of St Ignatius of Antioch, his patron saint.
In the latter part of 2022, the Diocese of Portsmouth announced a Ten Year Strategy: "You Will Be My Witnesses". This aims to reassess the assets across the diocese for current purpose and reduce the 90 parishes to 24. The initial plan is for the parishes in our Pastoral Area plus one other to merge into a single parish of Aldershot, Church Crookham, Cove, Crowthorne, Fleet, Hartley Wintney, North Camp, Sandhurst, Yateley. It was later decided that the North East Hampshire Pastoral Area should remain unchanged and that Crowthorne and Sandhurst parish should remain clustered with Wokingham and Bracknell parishes.
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In the summer of 2023 it was announced that the Bishop of Portsmouth had appointed Fr Anthony Glaysher to be Priest in Charge at Twyford. He celebrated his final Sunday Mass on 3rd September 2023, 6 years to the day that his predecessor had.
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Our current Parish Priest is Fr Rob Stewart, who arrived in Aldershot in September 2023 from St Margaret Mary parish in Park Gate, near Fareham, where he had served for three years. He had previously served in Abingdon, Guernsey and Reading.
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Also in September 2023, our long-serving Parish Master of Ceremonies, John Aburn left the parish to undertake the Propaedeutic Year at the Royal English College of St Alban in Valladolid, Spain as a Seminarian, following in the footsteps of Fr Rob, who had started his own Formation for the Priesthood there.
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In December 2023, Bishop Philip visited St Mary's to celebrate Mass on the Third Sunday of Advent. The following week, after 10 months of closure, St Joseph's re-opened for Mass in time for Christmas.
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In April 2024 the parish surprised Fr Rob with a presentation to mark his 50th birthday.
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In September 2024, after 15 years in the parish, and as our Parish Deacon the past 8 years, Deacon Craig left the parish on 1st September due to the increasing demands of his diocesan roles.​Our Seminarian, John Aburn moved to Sacred Heart Parish in Fareham for a residential year and further studies.
The parish remains in a tight financial situation and would be grateful for any donations.
For a list of clergy who have served Aldershot Catholic Community, see here.
Much of the information above can be found in the book Diocese of Portsmouth, Past & Present, by Gerard Dwyer (published in 1982 by the Portsmouth Diocese Centenary Committee). Other items of information have been discovered and added more recently together with the more recent history from 2000 onwards by Deacon Craig Aburn.
