On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the formation of our parish a brief potted history of the history of St.Edmund's RC Parish was put together by a parishioner who has been a member of the parish since its inception.
In the 1950s the Sacred Heart Church at Waterlooville was the only available church within a reasonable distance of Horndean. The then parish priest at Waterlooville, Fr. Minogue, decided that his church would benefit from having a parish hall for his community to use for social activities and events like Christmas Bazaars with maybe with some grounds for Summer Fetes etc. In the latter part of the 1950s, he managed to purchase the land here in Horndean and build on it the current nave, sanctuary and two side rooms, all for the princely sum of around £12,000. The building was designed and used as a parish hall.
Although the Horndean and Clanfield areas had no nearby church, Sunday Mass was usually made available at Blendworth House or Crookley Park by one of the priests from the Sacred Heart and, eventually, in the new hall. However, this situation wasn’t entirely satisfactory and a bit later on Fr Minogue, decided to take action and have his new hall converted into a church, which opened as the parish of St Edmund on 16th November 1968 (the Feast day of St. Edmund)
The first parish priest was Fr. Cyril Field, a kindly and likeable Salvatorian Order priest. Fr. Field nurtured the parish and was well liked. In 1974 he added the hall to the front of the building. The hall’s been a great asset, particularly as, after Mass, everyone has to walk through all the mingling parishioners before they can leave. This automatically promotes social contact! The parish is well known as a very friendly one - over the years, many visitors have remarked on it.
Parishioners continue to do their best to maintain St Edmund’s RC Church, first and foremost as a place for the sincere worship of Almighty God and secondly to ensure it’s always a welcoming community were we are always ready to greet and help strangers as well as each other.
These ideals are expressed in our Parish Mission Statement:
We, the Parishioner's of St.Edmund's renew our baptismal commitment tobe open to God's Spirit
to be open to God's teaching, as it comes to us through Jesus Christ, particularly through His Gospel.
We will respond to that Gospel in prayer and unity.
Furthermore, we will reach out in Christian love, to those in need, both inside and outside our community by sharing with them Jesus' ministry of prayer, healing, teaching and support.