MANCHESTER TO FOLLOW SUIT

From PETER OKELL REPRESENTATIVES of 60 Catholic guilds and associations in Manchester plan to put their case for establishing a permanent Catholic centre in the city to Bishop Holland when he returns from Rome. This was decided at a Link Society meeting last week.
With the bishop's backing and diocesan approval the guilds propose to set up a working committee to explore the possibility of establishing such a centre.
They emphasise that it would have to contain adequate catering facilities, with a bar and coffee lounge. There would also be a library, a large hall for dances, meetings. and conferences, and a lecture room with facilities for putting on plays and films.
Rooms to let at a small rent to Catholic organisations are planned, with, perhaps, permanent accommodation for Catholic social workers and bodies like the Catholic Marriage Advisory Council and the Catholic Moral Welfare Council.
"The centre would cater for the needs of all, from school-leavers upwards." said Mrs. J. Nickson, of the Link Society.
Profitable
"There will he a • section complete with Youth Club facilities. And we would also provide a meeting-place for older Catholics where they could have a chat and a cup of coffee in pleasant surroundings."
Mrs. Nickson said that if the centre were supported by the diocese and the Catholic community it mould "not only be made to pay, but would show a profit. This money could be ploughed hack into the Church and go towards meeting the diocesan debt."
A Catholic architect and planning consultant estimated that to build such a centre on the fringe of the city-centre area mould cost about £300,000, including land cost. The building would need about 40.000 square feet of floor space. To rent one of this size in the city would cost about £35,000 a year.
A smaller building. like the Catholic chaplaincy now nearing completion at the University, would cost in the region of £100,000 minus furnishings. This would have 16,0(1(1 square feet of floor space.