The re-awakening of Catholicism in Tewkesbury is signalled by an anonymous notice in the Laity Directory of 1834. It read “A gentleman, in the neighbourhood, is willing to assist in establishing a chapel in Tewkesbury, when this desirable object can be entered upon with a probability of success”.
The Mission was eventually established in 1870 and the first Missioner to serve it was Father Thomas William Fenn, D.D. who remained at Tewkesbury until his retirement in June 1905. The first St Joseph’s Church was opened at the Mythe on St Joseph’s Day, 19th March, 1870, and, as Bishop Clifford of Clifton was absent at the first Vatican Council, his Vicar General, Mgr Bonomi, performed the ceremony.    On 8th December 1870 Pope Pius IX declared St Joseph to be the Patron of the Universal Church. In 1977 the present St Joseph’s Church, formerly a telephone exchange erected in 1938, was opened for Catholic worship and the old church at the Mythe was disposed of.

PARISH BOUNDARIES
The Catholic Parish covers the town of Tewkesbury together with the civil parishes of Ashchurch, Twyning, Tredington, The Leigh, Deerhurst, Apperley, Tirley, Forthampton and the northern part of Stoke Orchard. Because the County boundary of Gloucestershire has been altered since the Catholic Diocese was created in 1850.

This means that certain areas that are now situated in the County of Gloucestershire are still within the Catholic Diocese of Birmingham. These include the area of Mitton, which is situated in Pershore Catholic Parish and Chaceley and Corse Lawn which are situated within the Upton-on-Severn Catholic Parish. Today the boundary of Tewkesbury Catholic Parish also incorporates a small area of Worcestershire, which stretches from Forthampton towards Pendock. The Parish includes within its area many beautiful and historic buildings associated with the area’s rich medieval Catholic past.
	These include Deerhurst Priory where St Alphege became a Benedictine monk; Tewkesbury Abbey; and the ancient medieval parish churches in the villages. An interesting building is Odda’s Chapel at Deerhurst. Further afield are various Catholic recusant houses some with chapels such as those at Beckford, Woollas Hall, Murrells End, Hartpury, Little Malvern and Blackmore Park. The major recusant families who lived within the present St Joseph’s parish were the Wakemans at the Mythe and the Casseys of Wightfield Manor at Apperley
THE WIDER CHURCH OUR NEIGHBOURING PARISH  Four miles from St Joseph’s is the English Benedictine Parish of St Benet at Kemerton,.which serves many of the villages on the southern side  of Bredon Hill and in the Vale of Tewkesbury. The Parish Priest of Kemerton is Rev Dom Francis Hughes.  OUR DEANERY  St Joseph’s Parish is situated in the Catholic Deanery of Gloucester which includes the City, Churchdown, Brockworth, Matson, Tuffley, Newent and the Forest of Dean.   The Dean is Rev Bernard Massey,  Parish Priest of St Peter’s Gloucester
OUR DIOCESE  The parish is situated within the Catholic Diocese of Clifton, which was established in 1850 by Pope Pius IX to cover the ancient Counties of Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, Somerset and the City of Bristol. In medieval times our parish was situated in Worcester Diocese, which in turn was created out of the ancient See of Mercia in about 680.
In September 1541 a new Diocese of Gloucester was formed by King Henry VIII and the former Benedictine Abbey Church of St Peter was designated as the Cathedral. However, the only Bishop of Gloucester to be in full communion with the Holy See was Bishop James Brooks (1554-1558). The present Cathedral of the Diocese of Clifton is the Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul in Clifton and this was consecrated on 29th June 1973.  The Bishop is the Right Reverend Declan Lang, Ninth Bishop of Clifton OUR PROVINCE  St Joseph’s Parish is situated in the Province of Birmingham and our Metropolitan Cathedral is the Church of St Chad in Birmingham.  The Archbishop of Birmingham is the Most Reverend Vincent Nichols. THE UNIVERSAL CHURCH The Pope is His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI (Joseph Ratzinger)   CHURCHES TOGETHER IN TEWKESBURY St Joseph’s Parish belongs to Churches Together in Tewkesbury. Membership: Tewkesbury Baptist Church, Holy Trinity, Tewkesbury Methodist Church, Salvation Army, St Joseph’s Catholic Parish, Tewkesbury Abbey, Tewkesbury Christian Centre in the Wheatpieces, Northway Methodist Church, Priors Park Chapel, Sycamore Chapel at Northway, St Nicholas, Ashchurch and St Mary Magdalene, Twyning ANOTHER TEWKSBURY
We have links with Tewksbury Parish in the U.S.A. and a delegation from their parish visited St Joseph’s in July 1984.	During the first three decades of the 1900s, the need was becoming great for Catholics of Tewksbury to have a place to worship, and in December of 1934 permission was given from Rome to establish a Parish in Tewksbury. The Archbishop of Boston, William Cardinal O'Connell, gave approval and signed "The Decree for the Establishment of Tewksbury Parish" on August 7, 1935. It went into effect on Sunday, August 11, 1935. The Oblates of Mary Immaculate were given permission and they accepted the challenge to conduct the parish. A contract between the Archbishop of Boston and the Superior General of the Oblates, which took effect on September 24, 1935, was signed. It "grants in perpetuity to the aforesaid Congregation of Oblates of Mary Immaculate, the Parish of Tewksbury, Massachusetts
The Parish Priest of St William’s Tewksbury is Very Rev. John W. Hanley OMI, VF.