Vatican rejects appeal to save Derry church

Parishioners in Culmore, Derry have been worrying about the future of their local church since 2022, when Derry Diocese decided to close the church following the Sisters of Mercy’s decision to sell the church building they rented to the diocese. A group of parishioners appealed to the Vatican but received the news the diocese’s decision “was to be upheld.”

Over 1,350 parishioners joined in a campaign to ‘Save Culmore Church’. The Church of the Immaculate Conception is located in the grounds of the city’s former Thornhill college and belongs to the Mercy Order. The Sisters of Mercy leased their old oratory, used when they had a boarding school, to Derry Diocese in 1995 to accommodate the growing numbers of Catholics in the area.

With the Vatican decision to continue with the church closure, the parishioners said in a statement: “Words are totally inadequate to express our heartfelt sorrow that the Vatican has turned down our appeal. Our barrister and legal team believed we had sufficient grounds to win the appeal and the rejection has come as a devastating blow.”

The Vatican justified its decision on the description of the church being an ‘oratory’ rather than a ‘parish church’. The parishioners argued: “We submitted more than 100 witness statements to the contrary. The clue is in the title, as the road sign and former bulletins read ‘Thornhill Church’ and not ‘Thornhill Oratory’”.

“We already have three parishioners willing to buy the property and restore it to a place of worship. We look forward to participating in the sale which surely must be widely publicised”, the group said.