A CATHOLIC priest has labelled a plan to renovate a church in Penparcau at the expense of the historic St Winefride’s church in Aberystwyth as “deeply upsetting and shocking”.

Father Neil Evans, who was moved from Aberystwyth to Neath last year by Bishop Tom Burns in the middle of the bishop’s battle with parishioners over the future of the now-closed church on Queen’s Road, wrote to rail against the decision to renovate the Welsh Martyrs church in Penparcau.

“It is just over a year since you asked me to move from the Parish of Aberystwyth and since arriving in Neath I have made clear on a number of occasions that I can no longer give advice or guidance to the parishioners of Aberystwyth or be otherwise involved in the dispute between the Parish of Aberystwyth and the Diocesan Board of Trustees, so as not to interfere with the work of my successor, Fr Paul Joseph,” Fr Evans wrote in an open letter to the bishop and diocese trustees.

“However, reluctantly, and with a heavy heart, I feel I must respond to what you have written.

“I read your letter with great sadness because I know how much it will have distressed and upset a large number of the congregation at St Winefride’s - except, of course, for the whoops of joy and delight from the small cache of supporters at Penparcau.

“You say there ‘has scarcely been any unanimity about how to proceed or where’. I find it hard to believe you have forgotten the enthusiasm with which you greeted parishioners agreeing by a huge majority and without one vote against that they wish ‘as a first step to support the sale of the land at Penparcau for maximum proceeds’.

“I know there will be disbelief and consternation in the parish that you have broken this public solemn promise and without consulting the parish made plans to refurbish Welsh Martyrs at Penparcau, without waiting for the agreed sale of the land.

“What is truly astonishing is that there has never been, at any time, not in any discussions, over the preceeding years, the least suggestion that there was an option to restore Welsh Martyrs. The proposal to renovate Welsh Martyrs in Penparcau seems to me to be wrong, even perverse, in every way.”

“It is not viable as a parish church because it is one and a half miles up a hill from Aberystwyth, virtually no public transport on Sundays, two miles for the students to walk from the university, out of the way of tourists and visitors, plus the historical and cultural symbolism of removing the Catholic presence from the centre.

“In contrast to the derelict Welsh Martyrs there is in the centre of Aberystwyth a solid Victorian Church which could easily be renovated and restored which no qualified structural engineer has condemned and which the majority of parishioners wish to see restored. Financially, pastorally, historically, culturally, evangelistically - it is a win-win solution.

“I hope that it is not too late for the Diocese to enter into meaningful discussions with the parishioners of Aberystwyth on how best to renovate, restore and extend the church of St Winefride.”

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