St. Chad's shares a building with St. Catherine‘s Roman Catholic Church. In 1995 it was completely refurbished and is now a very attractive modern building.
Picture - St. Catherine with St. Chad
The new church of St. Catherine with St. Chad was consecrated by the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Birmingham and Bishop Keith of Lichfield on 26 June 1996 and has an official sharing agreement between the two churches. At present the Roman Catholic congregation use the church for Wednesday morning and Saturday evening Mass while the Anglican also use on a Wednesday morning, a Sunday morning, plus other services in the week.
The biggest estate in the borough of Walsall (some 1500 homes) Gypsy Lane Estate continued to grow and became known as Beechdale Estate. In the parish of Blakenall Heath it soon became clear to the PCC that there was a need for a church on the estate. The first St Chad's, a multi-purpose unit, was built by Spooners of Hull and was dedicated by the Lord Bishop of Lichfield on 1 May 1958. In 1962 a new curate's house was built alongside the church, Blakenall Heath Parish became a Team and St Chad's gained its own Team Vicar and District Church Council..
Picture - St. Chad's Vicarage
Following an invitation by the Roman Catholic community on Beechdale, an experiment was begun in 1970 whereby the two congregations shared the building at St Catherine Laboure ( the RC Chapel of ease on the estate) This arrangement continued with great success and soon became incorporated in a legal sharing agreement. The original St Chad's building, built in 1958, remains as a Church Hall.
Picture - St. Chad's Hall
| Picture - The Architects view of the redeveloped site of St.Catherine with St. Chad
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1985 saw the church of St Catherine in a state of disrepair and a radical move was planned whereby RC, C of E, Walsall Council and Caldmore Housing Assoc. combined with City Challenge to restore and re-orientate the church building.
Several plans were drawn up and the eventual redevelopment of the site took the shape of a Health Centre, sheltered bungalows for those of advanced years and a community building which includes a church, meeting room and offices.
The church was rededicated by the RC Archbishop of Birmingham and the Bishop of Lichfield on 26 June 1996.
Since this time the church has flourished both as a place of worship and as the headquarters of the Open Door Project. The ramifications of this project are many and varied and more details can be found elsewhere.
Pictures - St. Chad's Congregation
St Chad's congregation has always had a close association with the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham and a cell was initiated at St Catherine with St Chad. Regular pilgrimages are undertaken to Walsingham each year.
To celebrate 50 years of the C of E on Beechdale, in May 2008 a week of special events took place beginning with a BCP Eucharist and Evensong and Benediction in the old St Chad‘s and culminating with modern services of, said Eucharist (CW), a Celtic-style morning prayer and a rock-style Beechdale Praise the following Sunday in St Catherine with St Chad
Picture of Window
In addition a new window was dedicated, which depicts some of the history of Beechdale in stained glass.