Clonard Monastery
Photo :Redemptorists Clonard, Belfast The women’s confraternity at Clonard Monastery in west Belfast is to close after more than 120 years.
The 122-year-old Belfast association, which drew thousands of members when it was set up in July 1897, will meet for the final time on November 24 with a closing Mass.
Fr Peter Burns, Rector of Clonard, said the women’s confraternity now draws only “very, very small” numbers and after consultation with its secretaries and the women who still attend “the Redemptorist community decided it would be more honourable and fitting to bring closure and to do so with appropriate celebration and thanksgiving”.