A row over a disused church in County Donegal which prompted parish priest Fr Seamus Dagens to tender his resignation last week has been resolved. The bishop of Raphoe, Dr Philip Boyce, has announced that Fr Dagens’s proposal to sell the chapel-of-ease at Laghey Barr in Ballintra parish has been dropped and the building is to be handed over to a group of local people instead.
A minority of parishioners in Ballintra had vociferously opposed the priest’s plan to sell the building and use the proceeds to extend the local school.
Fr Dagens, who tendered his resignation on stress grounds as the dispute wore on, is now to return to work as parish priest in Ballintra.
Bishop Boyce announced that heating and lighting at Laghey Barr chapel, which Fr Dagens has suspended to save costs, will be restored.
Under the settlement, the tabernacle, which Fr Dagens removed with the intention of using at a side altar in the parish’s main church in Ballintra village, will be replaced.
But the Blessed Sacrament will not be reserved at the chapel.
The building will be handed over to a group of approximately fifty families in the area who are to take care of it.
The custodian families may invite priests to say occasional Masses in the chapel, which has not had a Sunday Mass for five years or a daily Mass for the past year.
In his statement, Dr Boyce said the building was being given to the community “for their own use and purposes”.
The bishop confirmed that Fr Dagens had agreed to withdraw his resignation and resume his post as Ballintra’s parish priest.
Both sides to the dispute have expresed their satisfaction at its resolution.
Father Dagens said he hoped the members of the community to whom the chapel was being entrusted “will make full use of the building” and said “it offers exciting prospects for the future”.
“And I am happy that the diocese of Raphoe is embarking on a much needed rationalisation of its resources," the PP added.
Anne Gallagher, spokesperson for the Laghey Barr Association which had spearheaded opposition to the chapel’s closure and sale: "We are so happy that the chapel is going to be left open."+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
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(Source: CIN)