AN ANGRY bishop has lambasted parishioners fighting to save a Catholic church in Aberystwyth from demolition.In a hard-hitting pastoral message to all parishioners of St Winefride’s Church on Queens Road, The Bishop of Menevia, Thomas Matthew, said the “delaying tactics” of a small group of protesters had wasted so much time, energy and resources that they might not be able to afford to build a new church in Penparcau.
And he said he might have to close St Winefride’s down for health and safety reasons, leaving Aberystwyth with no Catholic church at all.
Ceredigion County Council planners have already approved plans by the Diocese to build a new church, presbytery and hall along with a housing development on land near the Tollgate pub in Penparcau.
But plans to demolish St Winifride’s Church and the neighbouring presbytery and hall, which are in a poor state of repair, and replace them with blocks of flats, have still not been approved because of objections by parishioners and others.