Culmore parish to lose only church with closure of Thornhill chapel

A Catholic parish in Derry is to lose its only church after a religious order decided not to renew the lease on the building.

Since being set up 27 years ago, Culmore parish has used a church owned by the Sisters of Mercy Order for its services.

However, the Sunday Independent has revealed that the Order recently informed the Derry diocese, which manages the parish, that its lease for the church building would not be renewed after April next year.

Culmore parishioners have been told they will have to attend church services in neighbouring areas once their church is no longer available.

When this happens, it is believed that Culmore, will be the only Catholic parish in Ireland operating without its own church.

The church currently used by Culmore parish, which has a population of around 4,000 people, is located on the large site, which was previously home to Thornhill College.

However, the school moved to a new location in 2002 and the Sisters of Mercy retained ownership of a building known as Thornhill House on the site. The chapel attached to Thornhill House is the one used by Culmore parish.

A spokesperson for the Sisters of Mercy Order said Thornhill House has been 'mostly vacant' for over two years, with the exception of the chapel, which is leased 'short term' to the Derry diocese.

“This lease is due to expire at the end of April 2023 and is not being renewed, by agreement of both parties,” the spokesperson said.

“We must now make a decision on the problem of a much wider and unoccupied vacant site.

“We have had discussions with the local parish priest and bishop on this matter.

“We are now in the process of deciding what to do with the wider site, with the lease expiring early next year and the entire property then becoming vacant.

“We have taken no actions or made any decision in regard to the future of the property at this time.”

The Sisters of Mercy representative said they understood that many local people had developed links with the Thornhill chapel.
“We deeply regret that it will not be possible to facilitate its use by the community into the future,” said the spokesperson.

A spokesperson for Bishop Donal McKeown, the Catholic Bishop of Derry, confirmed to the Sunday Independent that the Culmore parish was to lose its only church.

“The parish has never had a church of its own since its establishment around 27 years ago. For all of its lifetime, it was able to use the chapel of Thornhill House for public masses and other sacraments.

“However, the diocese was informed on February 7th, 2022 that the Sisters of Mercy had definitively decided to divest themselves of Thornhill House.

“The Diocese of Derry would not be able to use the chapel, once the house was sold.

“The Bishop informed the parish priest that it would be important that parishioners should find out the facts as soon as possible,” added the spokesperson.

While Culmore parish has never had its own church, plans were put forward a number of years ago to build a church in the area.

A collection was set up and one local source claimed that as much as £750,000 was raised before the plans for the new church were later scrapped.

It is understood that the proposal to build the new Culmore church did not proceed because the Derry diocese was happy with the arrangements in place in relation to the leasing of the Sisters of Mercy church at Thornhill.

The Sunday Independent asked the diocese what had happened the money raised for the proposed Culmore church.

In response, the spokesperson for Bishop McKeown said that towards the end of 2011, Culmore parish priest, Father Colum Clerkin, had told parishioners that there would be no new church built. Parishioners were informed that they were insufficient funds to build a church and there would be no new donations sought to the fund.

The spokesperson added: “Some of those who contributed to the building fund asked for and received back what they had contributed.The parish currently holds around £400,000 from that original fund.”

The diocese declined to comment on what plans they have for the money left over from the Culmore church collection.