The Priest currently serving the Parish of Saint Helen’s is Reverend John Kelly.
Father Kelly was brought up just outside Monmouth, first in a farm under the lea of Pembridge Castle, home of Saint John Kemble, and later at the Cwm, the site of the Jesuit College where Saint David Lewis exercised his ministry before martyrdom.
After a degree in ‘Italian Renaissance Studies’, a year trying his vocation as a monk, and a year as an under-gardener in Kew Gardens, he was sent to the Beda College in Rome, and ordained priest by Archbishop John Murphy in 1980.
His first appointment was as curate in Saint Dyfrig’s, Treforest. From there he moved to Archbishop’s House as secretary to Archbishop Murphy and later to Archbishop Ward. First appointment as Parish Priest was Our Lady’s, Newbridge. From there he moved to Saint Mary’s in Dinas Powis, then to Christ the King in Llanishen, and then to Saint Joseph’s in Aberdare. In 2003 he took over the Parish of Saint Mary, Newport, when the Rosminian Order left after 150 years. In the following years he was given responsibility for two, then three, then four other churches, and finally in 20076/7 oversaw the amalgamation of the six west Newport Parishes into the new Parish of ‘All Saints’.
Other appointments include serving as Dean in the Heads of the Valleys and in Newport Deanery, and membership of the Diocesan Ecumenical Commission, the Liturgy Commission, and the Historic Churches Committee.
To contact Father John please complete the Contact Us page.
Deacon Mel Morrissey:
Former Parish Priests of the Parish:
19?? – 198? Canon John O’Flaherty
198? – 1996 Canon Robert Reardon
1996 – 2012 Canon John Griffiths
Former Assistant Priests of the Parish: