Parishioners campaigning to save a Catholic church have set up a
Facebook group to request a formal consultation into its closure.
The Diocese of Portsmouth announced earlier this month St Margaret
Clitherow Church in Ringmead, Birch Hill, is due to be demolished as it
does not have the £100,000 needed for repairs after thieves stole copper
from the roof.
Campaigners have now set up a Facebook page named ‘Please give us a
voice in the future of St Margaret Clitherow Church’ in their fight to
request a consultation.
One supporter of the campaign commented: “I’m still in shock that they can close a church that has such a vibrant community.
“The church may have not been able to be used for the last year but people still feel they belong to St Margaret’s.
“I started attending 14 years ago when pregnant with my daughter.
“It was the welcome I received from what felt like a warm and loving
family that I loved, along with the beauty, peace and warm sense of
God’s presence.
“It was somewhere where young and old could get together after mass
for coffee, share good times and bad and find help and support.
“I was the church secretary there whilst we had no priest but that didn’t mean that church life just stopped.
“The whole community came together to help out with all the jobs that still needed doing.”
Another campaigner posted: “The building may, to some people, just be
bricks and mortar – but to many it is a spiritual home. If you have
been attending the same place for 40 years or so and been heavily
involved in its journey, you would not want that taken away.”
It is estimated the figure of £100,000 would be the minimum cost of repairs.
The Diocese plans to sell the land with services taking place at St Joseph’s in the town centre instead.
It saddens me greatly that as a deeply spiritual guy, born into my family’s Christian traditions and beliefs and through their example and my own search through my 48 years of life, and having many years ago making these tradition and beliefs my own; a 1000 times over. This Church, that has been the physical building to which I have returned time and time and time again is to be taken away from not only myself but the community of believers that over time have helped and supported my growth as a follower of Christ and his teachings. As a group of very different people we have grown as a community, joining in with the high and the low points in each other’s life’s, always supporting each other in prayer and helping each other in times of need. So the decision by those far from us that we will join our sister parish church, fit in to their existing family of believers’ and lose the heart of our community without being asked, consulted or involved in the process is not fair. We have always been part of our sister community, sharing their services, their joys and sorrows and we have always been part of a bigger family of believers’ but our church building is our home our base from which we can take our place in the larger community of believers’. I am asking those that made this decision to hand this back to us and support us in getting the church back on its feet, it’s our home and many off us have worked so hard to build this church, alongside our parents, its built out of love, it stands as a beckon for those who live and work in the area and is held very dear to us.
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