Church sold by diocese will become a mosque

A REDUNDANT Catholic church in Stoke-on-Trent has been sold by the Archdiocese of Birmingham to the local Muslim community, writes Paul Wilkinson.

It is understood the buyers, the Medina Mosque, plan to use the twentieth-century brick-built St Peter’s in the Cobridge district of the town to replace their existing place of worship nearby, which was housed in a former shop.

There has been a Catholic church in the district of Cobridge since the eighteenth century, but officials have blamed the sale of the parish church on a decline in worshippers, understood to be fewer than 40. “The district has seen a rise in its Asian population as the existing population moves away,” said one source.

An archdiocese spokeswoman said: “The parish of Cobridge has a long history, but in recent times the number of Catholics living in the area has shrunk to such an extent that those attending Mass at St Peter’s were simply no longer able to maintain a priest and the church buildings. The church was put up for sale on the open market. A modest number of offers were received and a local Muslim community made the best offer, acceptable to the diocesan trustees after consultation in other local parishes.”

She added that the parish still exists in canon law and the proceeds of the sale will be retained in its name until a decision is taken on the needs of the parishioners. The first church in Cobridge dates from 1780 when two prominent local Catholic families, the Warburtons and the Blackwells, funded the building of a small chapel.