Children in protest over singing ban

by Joanna Moorhead JUNIOR choristers at one of Britain's best-known Catholic churches claimed this week that they have been banned from singing at masses and told they should attend another church.
The youngsters, members of the children's choir at the Holy Name Church in Manchester, have organised a petition and travelled to London in a bid to get themselves reinstated at the church where they have sung for the past nine years.
Their director, Rosemarie Darby, said she believed the children had been told they could no longer sing because of their prominent role in a campaign last year to save the Holy Name from closure after the Jesuits, who run it. put it up for sale. The decision led to a public outcry in Manchester, with one group of worshippers even raising £500,000 in an attempt to buy the building.
Children from the 22-strong choir organised prayer meetings and wrote letters to the Pope, Bishop Patrick Kelly of Salford and Jesuit Provincial Fr Michael Campbell-Johnston, asking for their support in saving the church.
Their efforts, plus pressure from other churchgoers, led the Jesuits to reconsider, and last September they announced that they would keep the church but would reduce the number of priests and services there.
Soon afterwards, according to Ms Darby, it was made known to the choir that they would no longer be needed to sing at Sunday masses.
The reason given was that the Holy Name was no longer a parish church and that the children should attend their own parishes. But in fact it had not been a parish church for the three years before that, and there had been no previous mention of our singing having to stop," she said.
Ms Darby said she believed the decision not to use the choir would be a tragedy for many of the youngsters, all aged between nine and 15. "The fact is that many live in the inner city area and many of them have parents who don't go to church,' she said.
"If the choir was to split up, many of them would almost certainly lapse and not go near a church again."
Last week a delegation of choir members went to London to present a 1,000-signature petition to Fr Michael Campbell-Johnston. If this failed, said Ms Darby, she would widen the petition and invite more people to sign it.
Fr Francis Walsh, superior of the Jesuits at the Holy Name, said the decision to to allow a choir at the church was nothing to do with anyone's role in the campaign to save the church from closure.
"I can no longer have a choir here because we are not a parish
church. We need the bishop to allow us to exist, and he is keen for children to go to mass in their own parishes," he said.