Sacristan stages sit-in to keep popular Drogheda church open

The sacristan at a church earmarked for closure despite increasing numbers of mass-goers is staging a sit-in and refusing to eat until the Dominican Order does a U-turn and decides to keep it open.

Declan Hanratty has been the sacristan at the Dominican Church in Drogheda for 10 years and says he will continue his protest until the "decision is reversed."

He began on Sunday when news of its closure was broken to parishioners. Falling vocations as well as an ageing community is behind the decision by the Dominicans to instead focus on having communities with at least six friars.

Mr Hanratty has not left the church grounds since and is only taking water to sustain him.

Thousands of people have shown their support for keeping it open by either signing a petition, supporting a Facebook page or filling in cards with messages on.

“There are people with tears in their eyes coming in. On Sunday morning a lady came in and just bawled her eyes out. That was when I decided I would start a silent protest, that I would stay in the Church and I wouldn’t eat and hopefully it will get the guys in Dublin to think twice about closing Drogheda,” he said.

He wants the church kept open for the people of Drogheda, “they deserve it, they have been coming here for years and years. When things were hard here in the Church, they stepped up to the plate, when they needed money it was given so I think it is time for pay-back. Hopefully the powers that be will realise.”

The Dominicans have been in Drogheda for 790 years and Fr Jim Donleavy, a member of the Dominican Community in Drogheda said, "it is a very integrated community and you are very aware you are very much part of the town."

Parishioners have asked him “where else will we go.”

Mr Hanratty said: “Weekend masses are full, every morning at 10am mass we have a nice crowd. We have a lot of weddings, people want to get married here. Some people have it in their will they want to come back here for their funeral. There is a big attachment to this church.”

Fr Jim supports Mr Hanratty and said, “we weren’t consulted about the closure, I don’t know if other churches were, we just got the diktat. I can’t tell you why we are being closed.”

Mr Hanratty said he was surprised at the decision because, “at the beginning of the summer we got a replica of St Bernadette and it is very popular, to date there has been about 6,000 visitors to her.”

“During the day I see teenagers coming from school, they might not go to mass every weekend but they do come into this church and they do light their candle. They slip in and slip out so this will be a great loss.”

His wife Rita said they used to know everybody who went to the church but in the last year “We have new people coming in. We have families too. You wouldn’t hear a child cry here, you wouldn’t see a child run around the church but in the last 10 months we have families back and it is great to see and great to hear.”

“There are new faces and it is brilliant and it doesn’t make an ounce of sense closing this church,” she added.

After three days with only water, and sleeping each night on the ground, Declan said, “I am not feeling too bad. It hasn’t hit me yet. I hope to keep going.”

A meeting in support of keeping the Dominican church in Drogheda is taking place this evening in the Westcourt Hotel in Drogheda.

In a statement on the redeployment of their communities, the Dominican's Prior Provincial Fr Gregory Carroll said, "no change will occur immediately. We will consult with the local communities from which eventually we would have to move, before anything actually happens."

It was announced at the weekend that the Dominicans are to close centres in Dublin, Drogheda, Co Louth, Athy, Co Kildare, Waterford and Limerick due to decline in numbers and an ageing membership.

The centres involved are Leeson Park in Dublin, St Magdalen’s in Drogheda, St Dominic’s in Athy, St Saviour’s in Limerick, and St Saviour’s at Ballybeg in Waterford. It is understood that closure in each instance will not be immediate.

Currently there are 125 Irish Dominicans, 51 of whom are under 65. Three Dominican priests were ordanied this year with six more solemnly professed earlier this month.

The Dominicans have been in Ireland since 1224. They also have houses in Dublin, Cork, Tallaght, Newry, Dundalk, Newbridge, Waterford, Kilkenny, Tralee , Galway and Sligo.