St Clare's: Unholy row over Glasgow church axe plan

Now, angry parishioners are using their voices to fight the closure of an Easterhouse chapel. 

Members of St Clare’s held a protest yesterday to demand church bosses reconsider plans to read the Drumlanrig Avenue building its last rites. 

READ MORE: St Clare's: Glasgow church closes doors for final time

The doors closed on the place of worship for the final time last month when chiefs in the Motherwell Diocese told parishioners it would not be able to afford repairs to keep it open.

Bishop Joseph Toal confirmed the news in a letter to St Clare’s parishioners, with the church having effectively been used as a wing to nearby St Benedict’s since 2016. The two parishes were merged at the time to form St John Bosco’s. 

However, the move has not gone down well with a number of St Clare’s members, who have accused the Bishop of closing the parish against their will. 

Eugene Cawley, a parishioner for more than 40 years, said: “They have been pushing to close our church for years.

“We should have seen this coming. We should have. For the last three months, they have moved most of the masses to St Benedict’s.

“The Bishop said it was because they can’t afford to heat the building but that is an absolute nonsense. It’s a smokescreen.

“For years we have come to the church and it became a bit of a running joke about how cold it was.

Members on St Clare’s: ‘It was there for Easterhouse at its best and worst’

“If they had just come to discuss it with us first and explain it, then no one would have had any qualms.”

Mr Cawley, 65, is one of a number of parishioners whose family has been connected to the church for generations. 

He added: “Even if they kept the church open for six months so we could collect our things in time, that would be better than this.

“The gates are padlocked; they haven’t been locked since the church opened."

Bishop Joseph Toal

He has now written to Bishop Toal, below, to demand he reconsider the closure of the church. 

In his letter, he wrote: “I am writing to voice our parish’s dismay and horror at the way our beloved St Clare’s was so abruptly closed without any warning or discussion. 

“In every sense of the word St Clare’s, is our Church.

“You’re excuse? explanation? 

“Was the heating. This is a smokescreen.” 

St Clare’s opened in 1965 and has been at the heart of the community at home and abroad since then. 

Thousands have been baptised, married, and bid farewell, while a high-successful partnership saw 20 Liberian schoolchildren reach university. 

Caroline Meechan, another member of St Clare’s, said: “It has been the Bishop’s wish to close down our church.

“We want our voice to be heard as no thoughts given to how parishioners travel.” 

She added: "The church was built by funding collected personally by the older past generation and it was a flourishing community parish.

"There were options given by a few parishioners to fund repairs and these where rejected, also many donated free time and flowers which with the last priest was withdrawn. Senseless really." 

Councillor Maureen Burke, who joined parishioners for the protest, said: "St Clare's has been the heart of the community of Easterhouse for over 50 years. Many parishioners past and present were there when the first brick was laid to build the church.

"It wasn’t just a church of Faith, it was a church of community, we ran a summer play scene for all local children in the area, we held social events to raise funds, also an afternoon club for the elderly and a Friday night men’s club.

Parishioners Caroline Meechan and councillor Maureen Burke

"To have the church closed in such a cold and callous way is disgraceful especially in the current situation with Covid 19 many people have lost loved ones and at time when their faith is most needed it has been taken from them." 

In a letter to parishioners, Bishop Toal claimed it had become increasingly difficult to maintain both St Clare’s and St Benedict’s.

He wrote: “When St Benedict’s and St Clare’s formed the one parish of St John Bosco’s, we kept both churches open, providing the celebration of the Sacred Liturgy and other services and social events in both locations. 

“This has become increasingly difficult, particularly in regard to St Clare’s, where a number of significant repairs are necessary, most notably the replacement of the heating system in the church as it has been condemned as unsafe for further use. 

“The parish does not have the financial resources to carry out these repairs and I have reached the conclusion that the decision be made to close St Clare’s and concentrate on maintaining St Benedict’s, which benefitted from a full and costly renovation in more recent times.

"Since the colder weather is approaching and St Clare’s will not be heated through the winter, the closure will take effect from this weekend. 

“I cannot see a benefit in delaying the closure.

“I realise this is sad news for many people and I have been reluctant to take this step, but it has to be faced and our present difficulties with fewer people attending mass and the subsequent loss of income made any possibility of carrying out the necessary repairs in St Clare’s untenable. 

“I seek your understanding over this and I encourage those who have faithfully attended mass in St Clare’s to continue to do so in St Benedict’s.” 

The Glasgow Times contacted the diocese for comment.