The Tenterden Link, by Canon Charles Walker

When I was appointed priest in charge of St Teresa’s in February 1999, it was still a “chapel-of-ease” to St Andrew’s, Tenterden, in the County of Kent and in the Archdiocese of Southwark. It was the Archbishop of Southwark who appointed me.
This relationship went back to 1935, when both St Andrew’s and St Teresa’s were founded by local initiatives in the then undivided diocese of Southwark. With the creation of the new diocese of Arundel & Brighton in 1965, Southwark was raised to an Archdiocese. Mrs Nina Barclay was the benefactress of St Andrew’s and Penrose and Sheila Fry (Kaye-Smith), gained permission for the building of St Teresa’s at Northiam. A new parish of Tenterden was created, with St Andrew’s as its parish church, and St Teresa’s, located in the county of Sussex, was attached to it. Fr Hopetoun Currie was made parish priest, and remained so for 50 years until 1984 when he finally retired, only to die in the following year. During his remarkable 50 year tenure Canon Currie faithfully ministered to the Catholic communities of both Tenterden and Northiam and district.
The creation of the new diocese in 1965 led to an anomaly of jurisdiction in the parish of Tenterden with Northiam. St Andrew’s in Kent belonged to the Archdiocese of Southwark, and St Teresa’s in East Sussex was now in the new diocese of Arundel and Brighton. Canon Currie cheerfully carried on with the care of both centres, and the anomaly was still unresolved when I appeared on the scene in 1998. At that time St Andrew’s congregation regularly prayed for “Michael our Bishop”, (Archbishop Michael Bowen), and St Teresa’s for “Cormac our Bishop”, (Bishop Cormac Murphy O’Connor).
Canon Currie’s ministry had established strong sentimental ties between St Andrew’s and St Teresa’s. Members of St Teresa’s were on St Andrew’s parish council, and both communities took part in each others' events.
Nevertheless, the problem of the overlapping diocesan jurisdictions needed to be resolved. In my time an attempt was made to transfer St Teresa’s to the parish at Rye, (St Anthony of Padua), where it would be unequivocally in the Arundel and Brighton diocese. After careful consideration, the Franciscans at Rye felt unable to take on further responsibilities, so the overture failed. It is worth noting that in spite of its uncertain belonging, St Teresa’s had gained in me a priest of its own for the very first time. Though elderly and arthritic, I had no other responsibilities than St Teresa’s. Moreover, I was supported in my semi-retirement by Southwark Archdiocese, and apart from a monthly stipend was no charge on St Teresa’s community. So, in spite of the general shortage of priests in the Church, St Teresa’s had the luxury of its own priest for some eight years!
The problem of St Teresa’s diocesan belonging was very simply solved in 2006, when Bishop Kieran Conry of Arundel and Brighton appointed Fr Tony White parish priest of Battle in East Sussex, and quietly incorporated St Teresa’s into his parish care. This enabled me to retire finally, and a new parish of “Our Lady Immaculate and St Michael at Battle with St Teresa’s at Northiam” came into being. Fr Tony now speeds between his two centres in the same spirit as Canon Currie once sped between Tenterden and Northiam. St Teresa’s is now growing together with Our Lady Immaculate and St Michael at Battle, as it formerly did with St Andrew’s at Tenterden. Fr Tony is doing a splendid double care, but I think he has a long way to go before he can challenge Canon Currie’s record 50 year tenure.