Parishioners shocked at diocese's investment in Anglican church

BY ANDREW M BROWN
THE DIOCESE of Shrewsbury invested in an Anglican church which it wanted a Catholic parish to move into, it was alleged this week.
The diocese said it would ' pay for repairs at the Anglican building before telling parishioners at the Catholic Church of Ss Peter and Paul that they would be moved there.
The Church of Ss Peter and Paul. a huge 1930s basilica built on the Wm-al coast, is to be closed on Sunday.
Parishioners claim that assets estimated at £350,000, made up of their donations, have been "hoarded" by the diocese when they could have been used for the upkeep of the imposing Grade II listed church now condemned to closure.
Documents unearthed by the Liverpool Daily Post show that Church authorities were discussing building work at All Saints, near New Brighton, as early as June 20. A letter dated July 1 mentions a possible purchase of the church after three years' sharing.
On July 5 worshippers at Ss Peter and Paul were told that the closure of their church was to be hurried forward by nine months to August 17.
Councillor Tony Pritchard described the behaviour as being "in bad faith" and "asset-stripping".
He said that Ss Peter and Paul was "structurally sound" and that the money from donations should be used for repairs.
"Parishioners are shocked," Mr Pritchard said. "The church has got one of the strongest congregations in Wallasey. Parishioners' money was just hoarded. The Church was saying one thing to us and in fact they'd signed an agreement with the Anglicans. Nearly everyone at the campaign meeting stated that they would not be going to All Saints."
The diocese claims that the basilica needs upwards of £800,000 worth of repair work.
However, speaking for the group Save Our Unique Landmark (SOUL), which has now mounted a legal challenge to the diocese, Frank McGowan said: "One of the top structural engineers in the country thinks their figures are way over the top."
Campaigners said Mass attendance fell from a peak of 400 when the time of Sunday Mass was changed.
Fr John Joyce, press officer for the Shrewsbury diocese, said that although the new priest-in-charge, Fr Feeney, was "a fantastic character", there were still "a lot less people going". Mr McGowan suggested that the diocese had "callous" and secretive in their plans for the church. "If they'd only consulted us. people might have been more sympathetic. We don't want to be bunged down the road to the Anglican church."
Fr Joyce responded to the concerns by saying: —There's no possibility of the church being developed. It's a listed building. It will remain a building. It's not going to be a place of worship."
Asked whether the Church had acted in bad faith he said: "There was no question of the Church having made up its mind [when conducting negotiations with parishioners]."
At the Vatican, Mgr Giovanni Cam), the undersecretary for the Congregation for the Clergy, recently expressed "surprise" at the plan to share an Anglican church.