| Description | The Parish of Rickmansworth was founded in 1886 by the Rev. Henry Hardy, a secular priest who acted as Rector until 1904 when he handed the running of the Mission over to the Augustinians of the Assumption. The Assumptionists, together with the Daughters of Jesus, continued to use the original tin roofed chapel (demolished in the 1950s) built by Fr Hardy in the High Street until they bought the premises and two acres of land belonging to the Salter Brewery Company in Park Road to create a more permanent home. The existing buildings were converted into St Augustine’s Priory and Hall, and the present church of Our Lady Help of Christians was built adjoining the latter and opened on 26th October 1909. In 1935 a Lady Chapel was added to the church. The Assumptionists ran the parish for 75 years, opening three chapels of ease in the area between 1958 and 1974 which later became the centres of the present parishes of Croxley Green, Chorleywood and Mill End.
In September 1979, care of the Rickmansworth parish was transferred to the Verona Fathers (officially known as The Comboni Missionaries of the Heart of Jesus) whose national postulancy was established here. On 8th April 1981 the church was consecrated by His Eminence Cardinal Basil Hume, Archbishop of Westminster. In 1985 the Verona Fathers left and the parish was adopted by the Westminster Diocese. Fr Michael Garvey was Parish Priest for the first year, succeeded by Fr Jim Duffy in 1986. Fr Shaun Church became parish priest in 2013 after Fr Jim’s retirement. |