Religion
Billingham is home to several religious communities, the largest of which are the Church of England, and the Roman Catholic Church.
The Church of England community is served by five parishes, St. Cuthbert's, St. Luke's, St. Mary Magdalene, St. Aidan's, and St. Peter's, Wolviston. The parishes are part of the Church of England Deanery of Stockton, in the Archdeaconry of Auckland, which itself is within the Diocese of Durham. The parishes are currently served by, Revd David Brooke (Rector of Wolviston and also Area Dean of Stockton), Revd Susie Thorp (Associate Minister), and Revd Paul Clayton (Associate Minister). Recent clergy include Revd Canon Richard Smith (retired), Revd Tim Parker (now a hospital chaplain in Harrogate), and Revd Sheila Day (who died in post in 2011). The parishes are in the process of forming a single Team Parish of Billingham.
The Roman Catholic community is served by three parishes, Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Parish Billingham, St. John the Evangelist and St. Joseph's. Regular mass attendance in the town is around 756, according to figures released by the Diocese of Hexham and Newcastle. The parish is placed in the episcopal area of Cleveland and South Durham and the deanery of St. Peter, including Stockton and Billingham. The town is served by two Catholic Clergy, Rev J. Butters (also area Episcopal Vicar) is the parish priest, and Rev D. McKie the resident deacon.
The Christian community is also served by two Methodist churches, one Baptist church and a Pentecostal Church called "New Life" based on Low grange Avenue. There is also a Latter-day Saints church, and a Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses.
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Famous quotes containing the word religion:
“The religion of England is part of good-breeding. When you see on the continent the well-dressed Englishman come into his ambassador’s chapel and put his face for silent prayer into his smooth-brushed hat, you cannot help feeling how much national pride prays with him, and the religion of a gentleman.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“We think of religion as the symbolic expression of our highest moral ideals; we think of magic as a crude aggregate of superstitions. Religious belief seems to become mere superstitious credulity if we admit any relationship with magic. On the other hand our anthropological and ethnographical material makes it extremely difficult to separate the two fields.”
—Ernst Cassirer (1874–1945)
“When Catholicism goes bad it becomes the world-old, world-wide religio of amulets and holy places and priestcraft. Protestantism, in its corresponding decay, becomes a vague mist of ethical platitudes. Catholicism is accused of being too much like all the other religions; Protestantism of being insufficiently like a religion at all. Hence Plato, with his transcendent Forms, is the doctor of Protestants; Aristotle, with his immanent Forms, the doctor of Catholics.”
—C.S. (Clive Staples)