Ruadhán Jones and Brandon Scott
Rising energy costs are having a dramatic impact on parishes’ ability to heat churches, with some forced to resort to rationing and leaving it off for large parts of the week.
Recent months have seen a huge increase in energy prices which are predicted to continue to rise. Coupled with the need to keep churches ventilated to comply with Covid-19 rules, it is costing parishes huge sums at a time when donations have suffered due to restrictions on Mass.
Fr Martin Graham of St Peter’s Cathedral in Belfast said that costs “are rocketing to the point that even for us we put the heating on at the weekends, but we won’t be able to afford it during the week.
“The cathedral is notoriously hard to heat so if we were to keep it our heating bill would be between £4,000 to £7,000 a month. We switch it on on a Friday morning, switch it off on a Sunday morning after Mass, that’s the only way we can do it,” he said.
“Our parishioners are extremely good and generous but our numbers are down so that will also reflect on what we get in the collection…You’ve got the collection going down and the energy prices going up – that’s going to get worse,” he predicted.
Fr Frank Reburn of Ballymun parish in Dublin said that they have to be “very conservative” in when they switch the heat on due to rising costs.
“One of the big concerns for myself is the need to ventilate our buildings coming into the colder snap. It’s going to take a lot more heating to keep a bit of warmth in the church,” he said.
Asked whether he felt that parishioners would have to start wearing heavy coats to Mass, he said: “Well, I’d say they might have to with keeping the windows open heading into the colder weather.
“It’s hitting at a hard time, what with the pandemic having depleted funds…the prices have just gone crazy,” Fr Reburn said.
In Ennis, Co. Clare Fr Tom Ryan said that it is a huge concern coming into winter. “Energy costs have risen, there’s no doubt about it. And each year, we try to tender for the cheapest supplier that will give us the best value…But with our reduced income and increased costs it is one of the challenges facing us as a parish.
“It’s very important that churches are warm, that they’re welcoming and that they’re well lit,” he said, “that comes sadly at a price and an increasing cost at the moment”.
“We’ll keep going even though we are aware of the costs that are there and they are rising – but we have to keep our churches open and warm,” he said.
Fr Thomas O’Mahony of Skryne and Rathfeigh in Co. Meath said that the parish had just turned the heating on for the first time last week, and he is increasingly concerned about the cost of fuel as well as electricity.
At Longford Cathedral Fr James MacKiernan told The Irish Catholic: “The prices are just beginning to escalate now at the moment. We have been able to conserve heat in the cathedral as the weather has been quite kind to us up until now…But I think that from now on prices will continue to escalate as we are seeing and we will have to factor this into our budget for the year to try and meet the increased cost.
“The people of Longford have been very generous to us so we hope that they will continue to financially support the church during this time,” he said.
Fr Tim Bartlett in St Mary’s in Belfast said that the concern for many parishes was not just about the cost of heating the church, but parishioners who are having trouble heating their homes.
“What I am much more concerned about and see every single day, especially as a city centre church, is individuals and families under incredible financial pressure at this time. Living in real fuel poverty and struggling to choose between food and heat.
“Parents choosing not to eat themselves, in order to give food to their children and in order to keep their homes sufficiently warm. This is very definitely on the rise. The level of general anxiety over finances is clearly on the increase,” he said.