Clergy in Drogheda have called on the Drogheda Port Company to back down on its decision to charge for Sunday morning parking. Fr Iggy O'Donovan of the town’s Augustinian Church said church-goers were now starting to pay dearly for attending their weekly Mass celebration.
“We here at the Augustinian Priory are absolutely snookered when it comes to parking," he said.
"Basically, we haven't any and we are completely reliant on the nearby area, which, up until now, had been free on a Sunday morning,” he explained.
"Many, many people have said to me they are finding it more difficult to attend Mass and the congregation are increasingly elderly, and must pay for a church collection, as well as a gate collection, and now this too,” Fr O’Donovan remarked.
He said people attending Masses in other churches in Drogheda also used parking facilities on the quays which are owned by the port authority and have heretofore been free on Sundays.
“'Why bring this in now? Where is the Christmas spirit in this?" Fr O’Donovan asked.
“And particularly at this time of recession - I thought they were trying to keep people in the town, not drive them away”.
“Going to church in Drogheda is certainly becoming a damned expensive business,” he complained.
His colleague, Canon Jim Carroll, who is parish priest at St Peter's Church backed Fr O’Donovan’s comments, saying the move by the harbour company was a “cause for concern”.
“The decision to start charging for the Sunday parking on the quay will affect those attending Mass in the Augustinian and St Mary's Churches more than St Peter's but the issue of parking at all the churches has become a matter for concern”.
This was the case, Canon Carroll noted, “especially for older people, or those with mobility problems”.
While the changes were probably designed to target shoppers in the run-up to Christmas, he said “allowances should be made” for people attending Mass.
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(Source: CIN)