A CATHOLIC priest has resigned from the diocese board of trustees
just days after taking command at St Winefride’s Church in Aberystwyth.
Father Neil Evans stood down as a Diocese of Menevia trustee
because he opposes controversial plans to demolish the church, replace
it with a housing development and build a new church in Penparcau.
It was also revealed this week that Father Neil has been homeless
since taking over at St Winefride’s because the presbytery used by
outgoing priest Father Ross Patterson has now been closed on health and
safety grounds.
Church bosses say insurers won’t allow it to be occupied.
And it
is feared that the church will close at the end of the month for the
same reason.
Church bosses say the buildings are too costly to repair but
objectors have produced a surveyor’s report which suggests they can be
easily repaired.
In a letter sent to Bishop Tom Burns and copied for
parishioners, Father Neil launched a scathing criticism of how the
church authority has dismissed the possibility of renovating the church.
He said: “As you know, I have been unhappy about the failure of
the trustees to adequately address, with conviction and resolution,
other possible solutions to the problems facing us in Aberystwyth.
Unfortunately the perception exists that the trustees have from the
beginning pursued with conviction and resolution only the last option. Of course, it may well be that, in the end, this last option
proves to be the only option left to us (even if not the best option),
and so there will be no choice but to knock down the present church and
presbytery and build new in Penparcau."