The catholic churches within the Forest of Dean and Newent Parishes lie within the Clifton Diocese, which is part of the Catholic Church in England & Wales.

Parish Priest: Fr. Martin Queenan

Parish Deacon: Paul Dekkers

Lay Pastoral Assistant to the Forest of Dean Parish: Fiona Mills

Personal Assistant: Samantha Buchanan
Coleford: forestrcchurches@cliftondiocese.com
Newent: newent.ourladyoflourdes@cliftondiocese.com

Parish Office Details

Telephone: 01594 833173

Address: St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church, 4 High Nash, Coleford, Gloucestershire. GL16 8HN.

Parish Office open: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday mornings between 9am and 11am. All Mail and Parcels to be sent to the Coleford Office.

Emails to the Parish are checked from Monday morning until Friday morning.

Funerals please contact Deacon Paul in the first instance.

Baptisms are celebrated by approaching Deacon Paul and then meeting with him.

Marriages require at least six months notice. Initially please speak to Deacon Paul.

Sacrament of the Sick - please let Sam in the church office know if someone needs a visit for Sacrament of the Sick.

Mass Intentions can be requested by seeing the celebrating priest or emailing the Parish Office.



Our Churches:

(All Mail and Parcels to be sent to Coleford)

St. Margaret Mary's

St. Margaret Mary's, 4 High Nash, Coleford, Glos, GL16 8HN. [ Map » ]

Pastoral Council Members: Peter Chisholm, Sarah Perkins.

Our Lady of Victories

Our Lady of Victories, Flaxley Street, Cinderford, GL14 2DJ. [ Map » ]

Pastoral Council Members: Noel Riossi, Philip King

St. Joseph's

St. Joseph's, Tutshill, Lydney, Glos, GL15 5PA. [ Map » ]

Pastoral Council Members: Pip Deave (Chairperson), Dorota Dufort, Ruth Wood

Our Lady of Lourdes

Our Lady of Lourdes, Ross Road, Newent, Glos, GL18 1BG. [ Map » ]

Pastoral Council Members: Julian Dowle (Chairperson)




Safeguarding Message from Bishop Bosco

In Clifton Diocese we are deeply committed to ensuring the safety and well-being of all those entrusted to our care, especially the most vulnerable among us. The Church’s mission is to bring the light of Christ to the world, and we must be vigilant in protecting those who are at risk of harm. The sexual abuse of minors and vulnerable adults is a grave sin that deeply offends our Lord and causes immense harm to victims.

As the shepherd of this diocese, I take this responsibility very seriously and I am determined to do everything in my power to prevent such abuses from occurring and to respond swiftly and compassionately when they do.

To this end, we have implemented robust safeguarding policies and procedures throughout the diocese. It is the responsibility of everyone within the Diocese of Clifton to ensure our parishes and institutions are safe places, especially for those who are vulnerable. We have a zero tolerance to abuse, harm and any behaviour that falls short of appropriate safeguarding practices as expressed in National Policies from the Catholic Safeguarding Standards Agency.

We are also committed to fostering a culture of transparency and accountability within the Church in all our activities. Responding to those who come forward to report having suffered harm is a vital part of our mission and the Diocese is committed to being a welcoming and safe Church that is truly a beacon of light and hope for all.

We strive to support survivors and those who have been harmed by the Church, and we wish to work with survivors to improve standards further. We will listen and learn from every survivor/victim we work with.

May the grace of God strengthen us in this vital mission.

Bishop Bosco MacDonald, May 2024

Our safe guarding representatives are also available to help you with your needs at this time please contact Jenny Heseltine Tel: 01989 750665 or email Jenny for Newent. Contact Fiona Mills email: Fiona or phone: 01594 833173 for the Forest of Dean.

The Diocesan safeguarding team supports the ministry of the Church by providing a professional and robust support around the protection of children, young people and adults at risk, to ensure that worshipping communities are safe places where all have a positive experience of the Church in which they feel loved, accepted and safe.

All issues will be dealt with in a sensitive and caring manner, in the strictest of confidence.

The dedicated safeguarding team work closely with other agencies including the Police, Probation, Social Services and comply with the standards that are set by the Catholic Safeguarding Standards Agency (CSSA). The CSSA has been set up as a professional standards body with regulatory powers which exist to regulate all Catholic Churches.

The safeguarding office is located at Alexander House, 160 Pennywell Road, Bristol, BS5 0TX

Their website is: Clifton Diocese Safeguarding and has a great deal of information and contact details.

General enquiries: 0117 954 0993.

Email: Clifton Diocese Safeguarding

Safeguarding Coordinator email: Janice Pearson 07887 990 385

Mass Times

Mass Live Streaming

Our Masses and Services are live-streamed or recorded on YouTube. Please visit the Channel at Forest RC Church YouTube
Please ‘SUBSCRIBE’ to the channel so that you don’t miss any videos in the future.
‘Check’ the 'BELL' to be alerted to any new videos that have or will be taking place.
You will see a list of all videos that have previously taken place and uploaded here.
You can watch any of our videos. Please ‘LIKE' the video if you enjoyed it.

The next live-streamed Sunday Mass will be the Twenty Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time in from St. Joseph's on October 6th, at 11am.
When a ‘Live’ event has finished it can be viewed later as a recorded video.
Thank you for your support.



Masses for the coming week

Mid-week Masses & Services

  • Tuesday, 1st October - Adoration Service - Coleford 11am
  • Wednesday, 2nd October - Adoration and Morning Prayer - Newent 10.30am
  • Thursday, 3rd October - Adoration and Morning Prayer - Lydney 10am
  • Friday, 4th October - Rosary Prayer - Cinderford 9am

​​​​Twenty Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

  • Saturday, 5th October - Vigil Mass - Cinderford 6pm
  • Sunday, 6th October - Mass - Coleford 9am
  • Sunday, 6th October - Mass - Lydney 11am Live-streamed
  • Sunday, 6th October - Mass - Newent 11am

Bad Weather Alerts

If there is a likelihood of closing our churches due to bad weather, the information will be posted on this Church Website, on the Church Facebook Page and also to all those that have opted to receive the Newsletter by email. So please check the Church Website or Facebook Page before travelling to church for Mass, Service or Private Prayer particularly if the weather is bad. We don’t want you to arrive at a closed church!

Masses & Services live-streamed links:
The next live-streamed Sunday Mass will be the Twenty Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time on October 6th at 11am. This link will take you directly to the live-stream channel: Live Sunday Mass

Recently live-streamed or recorded Masses, Services and Talks:
Holy Mass Twenty Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time, 22nd September can be found here

On-line Masses elsewhere:

Live Mass is available from Clifton Diocese with this link: Clifton Cathedral Mass Sunday Mass: 9.30 am (Family), 11.15 am (Solemn), 6.00 pm

Masses in our Neighbouring Parishes:

Chepstow: Saturday 6pm, Sunday 11am, Thursday 10am.

Caldicot: Sunday 9am, Friday 10am

Monmouth: Saturday 6pm, Sunday 9.15am, Monday 10am, Wednesday 10am, Friday 10am. Ross on Wye: Sunday 11am, Tuesday 11am, Thursday 11am.

Please check the following websites for occasional changes.
For times of Masses in St Frances of Rome, Ross on Wye, and St Mary’s, Monmouth please use this link: Monmouth & Ross RC Churches.

For times of Masses in St Mary’s, Chepstow and St Paul’s, Caldicot please use this link: St. Mary's Chepstow.

Phone contacts

To help those without internet, Mass by phone 01642 130120 (calls charged at local rate and free if included in your minutes).

Hospital; Gloucester and Cheltenham Chaplaincy Team will visit and Pray with patients on our behalf 0300 422 6200/4286.

Hospital Chaplain - Julian Dowle - if you or anyone you know is admitted to hospital and would like a visit from our Hospital Chaplain, please contact Julian Dowle on 01989 721215 or email Julian. Thank you!

Church Hall

Our Church Hall is located next to St. Margaret Mary Church in Coleford is now available for hire. Please contact the Parish Office in the first instance.

Address: St. Margaret Mary's, 4 High Nash, Coleford, Gloucestershire. GL16 8HN. Get Directions »


Our Church Hall is used for various groups. Below are some of the regular activities. To find out more about any of these activities, please contact our Office.

  • Lunch Club - next lunch is on Friday 28th September and is held every last Friday of the Month. 3 Course meal followed by tea/coffee.
  • Faith Group - recommencing 13th November on every Wednesday of the month from 7-8pm with tea & coffee from 7pm.

To download the hall booking form click here

Links

Below are several links that we think might be of interest to you. Clicking on the logos will open the link in a new browser tab.

The Catholic Diocese covering the Counties of Gloucestershire, Somerset, Wiltshire, North Somerset and Bath, the City and County of Bristol and North East Somerset.

The Catholic Church is the largest Christian denomination in the world. It has more than one billion members worldwide and around five million of these live in England. There are 22 dioceses in England and Wales seeking ways to help all the people of God grow closer to Christ.

The school's mission is to provide a rigorous and broad education within the context of a Christian environment. An understanding of the Roman Catholic faith, in line with the Gospel message, underpins the whole work of the school.

CAFOD is the official Catholic aid agency for England and Wales. In more than 40 countries across the world, we bring hope, compassion and solidarity to poor communities, standing side by side with them to end poverty and injustice.

Celebrating Family: Blessed, Broken, Living Love, is the overarching theme of a range of pastoral initiatives developed by the Bishops following the Listening 2004 conversations.

The UK's premier campaigning and charitable organisation affirming and defending human dignity, and the right to life of every member of the human family, from conception to natural death.

Marriage Care helps couples and individuals to build and sustain strong, fulfilling healthy relationships, as well as providing counselling support in times of relationship difficulty. Our vision is a society in which all adults can build and sustain strong, fulfilling, healthy relationships.

We exist to save lives and transform the futures of some of the most disadvantaged children and young people in the UK by supporting vulnerable pregnant mothers and young families through difficult times, offering them the help they need to turn their lives around.

We are a Christian organisation that seeks to put the hope of Christ at the heart of our nation. We aim to empower Christians to speak out with a strong voice in the media, in law and in government.

Gloucester Cathedral sits in the heart of the city of Gloucester, acting as the centre for the areas' Anglicans and the seat of the Anglican Bishop of Gloucester.

Mid-Wyedean Churches: the Church of England serving Coleford, Broadwell, Staunton, Clearwell, Newland, and Redbrook and surrounding areas.

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