Friday, August 08, 2008

Vatican ‘surprised’ at plan to move parish into Anglican church

The Vatican has expressed "surprise" and "concern" at a plan by the Diocese of Shrewsbury to close one of its churches and arrange to have the parish Mass in a local Anglican church instead.

A letter from Mgr Giovanni Carrù, the under-secretary of the Congregation for the Clergy, said the plan to close the Church of Ss Peter and Paul, on the Wirral coast, "appears to stand in direct contrast to the recent indication that there are no plans to close the church... which were communicated to this Dicastery by His Lordship [the Bishop of Shrewsbury]".

The Diocese of Shrewsbury has said in response that all Canon Law requirements for the closure of the church had been fulfilled and that the Congregation had approved this.

The statement also said that the diocese had proceeded with the proposal to share the local Anglican church and that "Bishop Brian [Noble] has expressed his gratitude to the Diocese of Chester for its willingness to share the church of All Saints".

Mgr Carrù said in his letter that the Congregation had not heard of the plan to share the church. He said: "The Congregation must evince a certain surprise at this suggestion."

There are indications in the letter that the Congregation for the Clergy disapproves of the plan for " 'sharing' space with a local Protestant denomination".

The proposal is referred to as a "novel plan" and that "if this were to be so, it would also, naturally, be of concern to this Congregation".

The diocesan statement did not address this point.

Ss Peter and Paul is a grand church built in a basilican style in the 1930s with money raised by Fr Tom Mullins, "the Pope of the Wirral".
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