Parishioners from one of two Catholic churches in Essex due to close this month have written to the Bishop of Brentwood demanding that the money they raised for the church building be returned.
Masses in All Saints, Jaywick, and All Souls, Holland-on-Sea, will cease on 11 September after a statement from the diocese of Brentwood in August said that the “workload in this busy parish is unsustainable for one priest”. The churches are among three currently being looked after by Canon Peter Connor, 65, who arrived in early 2015 after his predecessor, Fr Jim McCormack, died.
According to the statement, Fr Connor “has been saying four Masses each weekend alongside his work in the parish, school, hospital, hospice – and any of the 63 care homes in town where Catholics have need of him. Unfortunately, the diocese has no spare priests to assist him.”
Parishioners are being urged to attend the church of Our Lady of Light and St Osyth in the Clacton-On-Sea parish, where Mass times have been adjusted and an extra Mass added. The Bishop of Brentwood, Alan Williams, who agreed to the changes, told BBC Essex that saying three Masses in three different locations was a “heavy burden”, and that he had been made aware of the large workload by Fr McCormack.
Parishioner Tony Everingham said that many of the congregation of All Souls, Holland-on-Sea, were elderly and would be unable to reach Our Lady of Light, which is three miles away and not served by a direct bus route.
Mr Everingham told BBC Essex that he and four or five other parishioners wrote to Bishop Williams requesting a meeting to discuss the closures. He says that although he received a reply on 10 August, his request for a meeting was not addressed.
The parishioners then wrote again asking for the money they had raised to fund double glazing in the church’s windows to be returned.
The money amounted to £500, raised through cake sales and raffles organised by a fundraising committee that included Mr Everingham. He told The Tablet he had also requested the return of an anonymous donation of £2,000 given via the committee. Canon Connor declined to comment and the diocesan press office was on holiday.
Loading ...
