Final Mass of Celebration at the Church of Christ the King, Aberdyfi
On Saturday 13th August, Bishop Peter celebrated a final Mass of celebration and thanksgiving at Christ the King Church, Aberdyfi prior to it's closure that evening on the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Mass was offered for all benefactors, parishioners, their families and visitors of the parish both past and present.
The Mass was attended by numerous parishioners from the parish and concelebrated by Fr Nicholas Enzama (Parish priest of Tywyn & Machynlleth).
During the sermon, Bishop Peter recounted some of the history of the church of Christ The King which is not so well documented.
In 1932, a priest from Aberystwyth travelled 25 miles to Aberdyfi each Sunday to celebrate Mass with the Catholic population that lived there. In 1935, a parishioner presented his garage for use as a Chapel with the plot of land. By 1942, the garage was converted and became the first church of Christ the King and a parish priest was appointed to Tywyn. In 1944, a piece of land, was given by Mr Charles Wright of Craig y Don who was living on Jersey at the time to the then diocese of Menevia to provide a church, a presbytery and a hall.
By the mid 1960's, plans were afoot to rebuild and develop the temporary Church with a permanent building to service the catholic community and the significant number of holiday makers who visited the area until just over two years ago.
Sadly, that small Catholic community has never greatly increased and the nature and style of tourism has changed. In 1966, there were 52 catholic residents in the Tywyn and Adbedyfi parish and only one in two hundred of the population were catholic. Like so much of rural life, things have changed, and the Church now needs a new vision, as there are no longer the number of people or priests to continue.
The closure of the Church of Christ the King is part of the restructure of the diocese in which Bishop Peter has outlined in the documents - 'Into the Future 1 + 2' and his pastoral letter earlier this year.
The final Mass at Aberdyfi was filmed by the popular television program 'The One Show' which examined the restructure and future of the diocese. At present there is no date set for when this will be aired but will be announced on the diocesan website when this information is available.
The Mass was attended by numerous parishioners from the parish and concelebrated by Fr Nicholas Enzama (Parish priest of Tywyn & Machynlleth).
During the sermon, Bishop Peter recounted some of the history of the church of Christ The King which is not so well documented.
In 1932, a priest from Aberystwyth travelled 25 miles to Aberdyfi each Sunday to celebrate Mass with the Catholic population that lived there. In 1935, a parishioner presented his garage for use as a Chapel with the plot of land. By 1942, the garage was converted and became the first church of Christ the King and a parish priest was appointed to Tywyn. In 1944, a piece of land, was given by Mr Charles Wright of Craig y Don who was living on Jersey at the time to the then diocese of Menevia to provide a church, a presbytery and a hall.
By the mid 1960's, plans were afoot to rebuild and develop the temporary Church with a permanent building to service the catholic community and the significant number of holiday makers who visited the area until just over two years ago.
Sadly, that small Catholic community has never greatly increased and the nature and style of tourism has changed. In 1966, there were 52 catholic residents in the Tywyn and Adbedyfi parish and only one in two hundred of the population were catholic. Like so much of rural life, things have changed, and the Church now needs a new vision, as there are no longer the number of people or priests to continue.
The closure of the Church of Christ the King is part of the restructure of the diocese in which Bishop Peter has outlined in the documents - 'Into the Future 1 + 2' and his pastoral letter earlier this year.
The final Mass at Aberdyfi was filmed by the popular television program 'The One Show' which examined the restructure and future of the diocese. At present there is no date set for when this will be aired but will be announced on the diocesan website when this information is available.
