Parishioners campaigning to save a Catholic church have set up a Facebook group to request a formal consultation into its closure.
The Diocese of Portsmouth announced earlier this month St Margaret Clitherow Church in Ringmead, Birch Hill, is due to be demolished as it does not have the £100,000 needed for repairs after thieves stole copper from the roof.
Campaigners have now set up a Facebook page named ‘Please give us a voice in the future of St Margaret Clitherow Church’ in their fight to request a consultation.
One supporter of the campaign commented: “I’m still in shock that they can close a church that has such a vibrant community.
“The church may have not been able to be used for the last year but people still feel they belong to St Margaret’s.
“I started attending 14 years ago when pregnant with my daughter.
“It was the welcome I received from what felt like a warm and loving family that I loved, along with the beauty, peace and warm sense of God’s presence.
“It was somewhere where young and old could get together after mass for coffee, share good times and bad and find help and support.
“I was the church secretary there whilst we had no priest but that didn’t mean that church life just stopped.
“The whole community came together to help out with all the jobs that still needed doing.”
Another campaigner posted: “The building may, to some people, just be bricks and mortar – but to many it is a spiritual home. If you have been attending the same place for 40 years or so and been heavily involved in its journey, you would not want that taken away.”
It is estimated the figure of £100,000 would be the minimum cost of repairs.
The Diocese plans to sell the land with services taking place at St Joseph’s in the town centre instead.
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