I am a member of a parish social club in England [I won’t say exactly where because of strict libel laws] which has been closed by the Parish Priest in what seems to be a very dodgy manner .
Our parish built a parish hall and club over thirty years ago with our own money and maintained it ever since while making substantial donations to the parish over the years and was a home to clubs such as football, darts, golf and cards as well as facilities for weddings, funerals and christenings. The previous parish priest persuaded us to make it a limited company in 2001 to 'guarantee our future' but he moved on the next year. The current priest decided to close it and last December had a meeting with the directors where without any notice he asked them to approve the closure on the grounds of impending financial failure and health and safety concerns. They say that they disputed his reasons as the club is in financial good health and had all the necessary safety certificates. They also say that they refused to vote without the agreement of the members and that they then left the meeting without a vote being taken. The priest’s recollection differs here from the directors because he then announced in the parish newsletter that the directors had agreed 'unanimously' to close the club and quoted minutes of the meeting taken by the Diocesan Director of Finance who was also present as ex offico company secretary.
When the directors all disputed this in writing to the Diocesan Director of Finance the parish priest advised them that their tenure as directors had expired the previous year and replaced them with priests. We held an open meeting which the priest first tried to stop then tried to dissuade people from attending but then gave in at the last moment and said that he was attending. The priest and Diocesan Director of Finance gave their disputed figures but refused to compare them to the audited accounts and then they staged a walkout when they 'noticed' the camera videoing the meeting [for proper ]. Since then he has been sacking people from being Eucharistic Ministers, readers and even Parish Councillors for disagreeing with him and many lifelong parishioners are resigning their positions and/or taking the sacraments elsewhere.
On the 31st of March the priest had the brewery remove the remaining bar stock and he chained the gates to the club locking out many organizations such as the senior citizens group and children's dancing lessons. We have been protesting to the Bishop but he only hands the complaints to the Diocesan Director of Finance to deal with and doesn't address the issues is there anything that we can do to prevent permanent closure?
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