About Us

The parish is served by Rev. Father Ethelbert Ukpabi

Our community

The churches of Sacred Heart, Goudhurst and St Barnabas, Hawkhurst
are made up of people from all walks of life and from many different
nations. We love diversity and we love to see new people. We really
hope that you will feel right at home.

Our Sunday mornings begin with a warm welcome and an invitation to
join in celebrating the good news about Jesus. Our worship is dynamic
and lively with a mix of older hymns and more contemporary songs as
we seek to lift up His name together. We expect God to meet with us and
speak to us.

We are also very active in our local community working alongside
other agencies as well as running our own projects as an expression of
the love of God in a practical way. We enjoy joint ecumenical events
with St Mary’s church, Goudhurst wherever possible.
 

History of Sacred Heart, Goudhurst

The mission at Goudhurst was established in 1882, with a chapel
dedicated to the Sacred Heart established at Oakleigh House, a Home for
Crippled and Invalid Children (The Tablet, 17 November 1883). A
modest late Victorian church, originally built as a school. A small piece
of land was bought in 1886 and the present church was erected as a
school soon afterwards.
 

Description 

The church is built of brick with a tiled roof. It is a simple rectangle,
gable end to the street and has large segment-headed side windows.
Only the group of three steeped lancet windows to the street and the
adjoining pointed arch to the porch give any ecclesiastical flavour and
the church looks more like a school, the use for which it was originally
built. There are brick buttresses along the sides and decorative stepped
brick detailing in the gables. At the east end, placed at right angles is a
smaller rectangle incorporating the sacristy. The interior is plain, with
exposed roof trusses and pine pews.

There are a number of icons in the church collected by Fr McClean
(parish priest for over 35 years until 2021) over recent years. The
painted Stations of the Cross are by Fr McClean’s uncle.
 

History of St Barnabas, Hawkhurst