The Presbytery, Moorland Road, Witney, Oxfordshire OX28 5YA

Priest of the Parish: Father Patrick Broun
Tel: 01993 702661
E-mail: enquiries@ourladyandsthugh.org.uk
Website: www.ourladyandsthugh.org.uk

The parish owes its beginnings to a remarkable Frenchman. George de Serlonne, who came to Oxford to read Modern History in 1913. He dedicated himself to his mission of visiting the scattered Catholics all over the Cotswolds who had no Catholic Churches or Schools, and instructing the children in their faith. He would cycle to Witney and other villages picking up children on the back of his bicycle to gather them together into a small class for instruction.

Parish schools play a pivotal role in the Catholic education of children up to the age of 11 and provide much needed support for parents wanting to educate their children in the faith. Links between the parish and its own very good Catholic Primary School in Our Lady of Lourdes is excellent with regular liturgical celebrations for the school community being held in the Church and in the school. Mass is celebrated regularly in school and every effort is made to imbue all activities with Christian values. There is good collaboration between the school and the parish as they seek to support the children and their families in sacramental preparation.

Message from Fr Pat

It is a delight to be able to write a few words for the school website. The school is an intrinsic part of our parish life, both for Catholic and non-Catholic children alike, for those who are parents and those who are not in the parish. The home-school-parish link is really important. The spiritual well-being of the children as well as the educational and social well-being is something I am sure we all share. You will always be welcome at any of our celebrations of the Eucharist, or any other act of worship, or any kind of event run by the parish or the school.