A PLEA to use £60,000 raised by parishioners to repair a disused Catholic church in Aberystwyth as a temporary measure has been rejected, despite the congregation being no nearer to having a place of worship.

The Bishop of Menevia Tom Burns said he will “not respond to correspondence” from parishioners over the re-opening of St Winefride’s church on Queen’s Road - even on a temporary basis using money raised by the congregation - following the advice of Cardinals.

Bishop Burns considers the matter “closed”, with the Vatican agreeing a £360,000 plan to renovate the Welsh Martyrs church in Penparcau.

That plan failed in March after the bank loan was refused, leaving the Diocese to go cap in hand to worshippers from other parishes to fund the project, which has not yet begun despite being a promise of completion by December last year.

Aberystwyth parishioners, without a church for five years, will be left without a place of worship “for the foreseeable future” and campaigners have called for the temporary re-opening of St Winifride’s to give the congregation a place of worship.

Chair of the Save Our St Winefride’s Committee, Mike Maloney, wrote to Bishop Burns to “attempt to find some way forward”, and asked him to reconsider re-opening St Winefride’s.

“Whatever the rights and wrongs of the various plans which have been proposed over the last few years, the inescapable fact is that none of them have come to fruition and the parish has been without a church – with all that entails – for the last five years,” Mr Maloney said.

“This has damaged the parish very badly.

“Mass attendance is much reduced and factions have developed who do not trust each other and do not talk to each other."

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