A Tale of Two Surveys
Blogged by James Preece on 30th October 2012
The BBC reports...
Protesters holding a prayer vigil at a Catholic church which is shutting on safety grounds say they could take their campaign to the Vatican.
They are planning an appeal to the congregation for the clergy - a committee which advises the Pope - to save St Winefride's in Aberystwyth.
Worshippers attended a final service on Sunday but plan to stay until its doors shut for good on Thursday.
The local bishop claims the Pope's UK envoy says it is a diocese matter.
[link]
The Church closure is of course a diocesan matter... but... even then there are rules to follow and if Bishops abuse their position then of course it becomes a matter for Rome. There are precedents. Bishops have been told by Rome to reopen parishes.
So that stuff about "this is a diocesan matter" is nonsense, though it is a classic bullying tactic to tell your victims that the authorities are on your side.
The BBC report continues...
An structural survey by the diocese shows the church site in Queen's Road, which includes a dilapidated parish hall and presbytery, is not fit for purpose.
It would cost more than £2.6m to renovate the building, he has said, although objectors dispute this figure, saying a survey they commissioned put the figure at £625,000.
[link]
Whoa there! One survey says £2.6 million, another says £625 thousand. That's a bit of a reduction! Surely some mistake?
Something of an explanation can be found in a recent 'pastoral' letter from the Bishop...
Detailed costings prepared by Ash Cost Consultancy indicate that some £2.6 million needs to be spend to re-build/re-furbish properly all existing buildings and site infrastructure. In contrast, another structural report has appeared, drawn up by Barratt Associates, which envisages renovation of the church and presbytery to cost an estimated £625,000. This report would appear to be more of an "appraisal" than a thorough inspection or detailing of costs. It seems merely to indicate the minimum amount of work that might be need to be done to make the buildings useable. It states that the assessment and costs are subject to confirmation by other professionals. I believe that it is true to say that the Barratt Report is not as detailed or wide-ranging, and therefore is less complete than the more thorough ASH report. Again, as I said to you three years ago, and I say again in light of the Barratt Appraisal:
It would mean throwing good money away and merely delaying a decision to another day when it ought to be taken now.
To spend £625k now would not make St Winefride's "fit for purpose" for the 21st Century which was the objective when discussions began some 10 years ago.
[pdf]
The bold text was made bold by the Bishop... if I were to make any text bold above it would be the part that says "It seems merely to indicate the minimum amount of work that might be need to be done to make the buildings useable.".
Is that a problem?
This is where the Bishop reveals that this is not a dispute about the cost of repairing a Church but an ideological one. He doesn't want to simply repair the church - he wants to change it. The parishioners want a building they can use but the Bishop wants something "fit for purpose for the 21st Century" whatever that means.
Reader Comments
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Salisbury John said...
Bishop Mullins of Menevia is a Marist Religious. I don't see much Marian faith and courage to rely on Providence and "Mother" his flock going on right now in Aberyswyth.
these churchmen of a yesteryear minimalist "theology" are a spent force...pathetic. They've never had to worry about the mortgage every month. They don't live in the real world.God help 'em
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Ora Pro Nobis said...
The same thing looks like it is going to happen in Grimsby as well.
http://www.catholiccommunitynelincs.org.uk/informatio/YALSReporttoParishioners.pdf
I have to be honest I used to think Paul Priest was going a bit over the top when he talked about the NuChurch paradigm and the use of large Church centres.
It looks like he was in fact prophetic.
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Simon Platt said...
"Fit for purpose for the 21st century" are not words we should be hearing from our bishops. "Whatever that means" is a fitting response. It's rather worrying that a bishop would think in those terms.
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Genty said...
The huge difference in costings lies between whether to rebuild (whatever that means) or to renovate. The bishop appears to have hit on the higher rebuild estimate to bolster his closure argument.
As for the tired old "fit for purpose" cliché if you google Martyrs Church in Penparcau, Aberystwyth, you'll see a 1960s post-modern church which was supposed to be just that. Last year the leaking roof had to be patched among other repairs and it looks decidedly dodgy (not just the design). I understand this is where the new church will be. Presumably, the present building would also be demolished to make way for a new church. Or perhaps refurbished.
The whole sorry saga prompts me to ask whether some of our bishops are fit for purpose for the 21st or any other century,
Had they been diligent pastors, congregations would not be in free fall depriving dioceses of finance - thereby forcing churches to close so that prime land be sold in order to raise money. All horribly self-fulfilling.
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Anne said...
Unfortunately you are not writing with the full facts. The Parish of Aberystwyth has been struggling to rationalize it's buildings and property for more than a dozen years. The Bishop has not just foisted this decision on us. Twelve years ago we had 4 churches (all in need of maintenance), served by a Carmelite community with four priests. We realised that such a privileged situation could not carry on for long. We now have one priest (serving a parish of around 650 square miles) and one small church in good condition (in Aberaeron) and three closed, dilapidated buildings. We are property rich and cash poor. You may imagine that the decision about which church (or churches) to 'save' has been fraught with difficulty. Despite years of consultations, meetings and days of discernment we seem unable to come to a consensus as a Parish family. A small but active group has always opposed any solution other than remaining in St. Winifride's. Although you quote news reports to the contrary, our Bishop has the quiet support of most of the parish, who welcome the opportunity to finally move forward in faith and build a new church on one of our sites, using the funds from redeveloping the others to finance this. Any other solution will leave us with a huge burden of debt and mean that all our resources and energies would have to be directed to fundraising and the ongoing maintenance of a Victorian building.
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O'r Awyr said...
26) Planning application (moved for public participation.
A12 0276 & A12 0277CA The Presbytery, Queens Road, Aberystwyth
A number of letters and submissions relating to objections against this application were circulated.
A number of verbal submissions were also made against the application.
Standing orders were then reinstated for the council to discuss this matter fully.
Following a wide ranging discussion it was RESOLVED to submit the following to Ceredigion County Council planning department.
RESOLVED- Strongly Object to this application on the following grounds:
Members feel that to remove the Roman Catholic Church from the town proper would not be in any way in the best interests of the local Catholic Community and would remove a much needed facility for locals, students and visitors alike.
It was felt that many of those who worship at St Winefrieds would be unable to travel to the new facility in Penparcau (some three miles distant) as they do not have access to transport.
It was further felt that little or no meaningful consultation and dialogue had taken place regarding the plans for the church, That the whole site would lead to a massive overdevelopment of the already congested area
It is also felt that to remove the Church from the heart of Aberystwyth is seen by many as symbolic act as it diminishes the Christian witness in the town and suggests that religion is being pushed to the periphery, .
The current spiritual interaction with the wider community will be lost and as |I’m sure you are aware this will not be replaced by the provision of other facilities ,
It was further felt that the loss of the church would be as loss to the cultural heritage of the town and of Welsh Catholicism in Wales given the site’s history.
The building of the new accommodation would add to the already overpopulated area in the conservation area. Population density in this old part of Aberystwyth is already stretching existing infrastructure to the limits.
The new development is not in keeping with the surrounding properties.
The traffic addition of such a development is unsustainable with the current ropad provision.
To remove such an important iconic building from the conservation area would seem to conflict with Ceredigion County Council LDP.
To remove the church from town could be seen as a contravention of Article 9 of the convention of Human Rights.
It was further RESOLVED to write to the Catholic hierarchy to draw attention to the members and public concern at losing the church from the town.
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