What price is a community? 30 Pieces of Silver?

Bishop Arthur of the diocese of Leeds has announced the closure of St Aidans Church, Baildon along with St Anthony's, Church Shipley. The two parishes are to merge with St Walburgas in Shipley. St Aidans and St Walburgas each have a priest; Fr Richard Carter of St Aidans and Fr Nigel Barr of St Walburgas. St Anthony Church currently functions as a mass centre served by Fr Nigel Barr. The closure process was initiated by the bishop distributing a DVD outlining the problems being faced by a dwindling catholic population. His two main arguments for reorganization were firstly to close parishes that were too costly to maintain and second to merge parishes so they could be managed better by the falling number of priests. He asked the parishes involved for their views and the parishioners and social groups of St Aidan Parish responded outlining the reasons for St Aidans to continue. The bishop followed this with his announcements of which parishes were to merge. The congregation of St Aidans were shocked to discover that their parish was one of those to be closed.

The big question everyone is asking themselves is: Why? What reason can there be? Is the parish failing with no congregation? No. Does the church cost more to maintain than is given in donations? No. Perhaps the bishop just wants to reduce the number of priest in the local area? No. There will still be two priests serving the combined parish. So what reason can there be? It can only be assumed that the lure of the financial gain from selling land in a prime area is a temptation too hard for Bishop Arthur to resist. The parish council has made formal requests to the bishop to discuss the matter in person. It was hoped that he would have the courtesy to explain the reason for his decision. He has failed to respond personally to any communications and his assistants have only made token and dismissive replies on his behalf. The bishop has spoken and does not need to explain himself. The changes being made throughout the diocese are of life changing proportions to all those involved. The Bishop might "appreciate the pain felt by those most effected by these changes" but he is doing nothing to try and ease that pain. It would not have been unreasonable to have expected the bishop to visit each parish affected and apologize in person for a difficult but necessary decision and to give his reasoning. Instead he chose to hide behind letters and his assistants. He is supposed to be a leader in the church, strong in his convictions and belief. A man who should be able to make difficult decisions and care for the community. A follower of Christ who's underlying message in everything he did was "Love thy neighbour as thyself!". I must have missed school the day they taught us that Christ said, "It is acceptable to destroy a community and ignore them because they will go away eventually." Bishop Arthur deserves our pity and prayers. He has obviously forgotten what it really means to be a Christian.

You may ask yourself: What is the problem with the parishes merging? The parishioners of St Aidans and St Walburgas are not strangers. Many parishioners have links through various activities. In principle there is nothing wrong with the merger. However, the solution that has been decided upon by the bishop has too many flaws. St Aidans has a thriving, close knit community which in addition to a strong mass attendance, has an established social side. The parish is home to beavers, cubs and brownies. The beavers and cubs are the only catholic scouting groups in the region. They have an excellent reputation and currently have waiting lists of children wishing to join. There are other activities such as keep-fit, mother and toddler group, dancing, quiz nights and other social events. The venue for all these is St Aidans church hall. What will happen to these groups when the parishes merge? St Walburgas does not have the facilities for these groups to continue. It has been suggested that the current house occupied by Fr Nigel Barr at St Walburgas be modified to provide space for a hall. The priest would then be found alternative accommodation. This idea has not been formalized or given planning permission. There is no guarantee that permission will be given. The social life of St Aidans will probably come to an end. What other problems are there with the merger? St Walburgas has no parking to speak of. This results in cars being parked in residential parking areas. The neighbours of St Walburgas are not happy with the current parking situation. They certainly won't be happy when the drivers from the other two parishes are also fighting for precious parking spaces. The people who will become justifiably worked up about cars taking their parking spots must not be overlooked. Love thy neighbour. Is St Walburgas a spectacular example of architecture? Is St Aidans so run down that it must be shut on grounds of repair costs? No. In fact St Aidans church has been well maintained. It has recently been redecorated and re-wired. The kitchen attached to the church hall has been refitted to comply with current legislation. The church hall has been redecorated. All this has been paid for by the parish. Not only financially but in time and commitment of those involved. St Walburgas is going to need work. The electrical wiring was installed forty years ago and is in desperate need of replacement. I am sure the congregations of St Aidans and St Anthony's are going to be thrilled by the prospect of walking into a potential fire trap.

Several suggestions have been put to the bishop. It was suggested that St Aidans be kept as a mass centre without a resident priest. This was rejected without explanation. It was suggested that an alternative plot of land be found and a new church be built with suitable parking and social facilities. A committee was created to investigate possible locations. No suitable plots were identified in the Shipley area. Although St Aidans church is not large enough to house the combined parishes, it does have enough land to build a church large enough and provide adequate parking and social facilities. Although it would be a wrench to see St Aidans church torn down, it was proposed as a potential site. The committee refused to even consider this as an option. Financial considerations played a significant factor in the final decision to abandon the option of a new church. What price is a community worth?

Every organization has to make financial decisions. Churches can not maintain building and land on goodwill alone. That doesn't mean that the church should forget or ignore its founding principles. It seems that the bishop and others have forgotten what the catholic church is. It isn't the bottom line of a balance sheet. It isn't a building to be sold, financing the cathedral or the bishop's latest finery and entertainment. It is a living, breathing community. It is the old, the young, the sick, the poor, the rich, the future generations yet to come. Destroy that community and you destroy the catholic church. Did Christ travel Israel removing communities because they didn't fit with his 5 year plan? Of course not. While other churches, such as the Abundant Life Church in Bradford are thriving, the catholic church is suffering from dwindling congregations and an ever decreasing number of priests. A recent pole taken in the parish has shown that the closure of St Aidans is going to result in the loss of a significant percentage of St Aidans parishioners from the catholic church. Rather than driving people away, Bishop Arthur should be doing his best to encourage the growth of the community. If the leaders of the catholic church fail to take steps soon it will be more than St Aidans Parish lost forever. The catholic community can survive, it has survived, without churches, cathedrals and riches. It can't survive without the community. The world will continue if St Aidans is closed. The parishioners that move to St Walburgas will eventually settle into the parish and the history of St Aidans Church will eventually become a story fading into the mists of time. As a result, the catholic community will be diminished in more ways than just numbers. The closure of St Aidans, although of paramount importance to the parish, is just a symptom of a bigger and darker underlying problem in the catholic church at large.

Gerard Hand

Any comments can be emailed to Gerard Hand