New owner of St Michael’s Parish Centre

New owner of St Michael’s Parish Centre

28 April 2021

A NEW owner will take over St Michael’s Parish Centre in Downpatrick this weekend.

The Irish Street building – which boasted a 60 seater theatre in its top floor – was once the social hub for parishioners.

It was sold for £150,000 with some of the funds already diverted into much-needed maintenance projects.

Fr John Murray, PP, explained the need for the parish centre had declined and it was not purpose-built for today’s parish needs.

“The front of the building is listed and if you were to go to a modern parish centre, you would find that it has wheelchair access and ours hasn’t,” he said.

“It was once used as a girls’ school by the Sisters of Mercy and then it was developed as a parish centre.

“However, in later years, the parish has not been using it that much and it was costing between £16,000 to £18,500 to run each year. Any groups who were using it have now found alternative accommodation.”

Fr Murray said that during the Troubles the parish centre provided a safe haven for parish and cultural and social activities but plays and concerts stopped being hosted there about 15 years ago.

“Parish life has changed,” said Fr Murray. “When the Troubles were on, people were afraid to venture too far so they went to Mass on Sunday, went to the bingo at the Parish Centre on Friday or to a dance.

“When the Troubles ended, people went back out to the bright lights of the city and we can’t compete with the money that’s put into clubs. A lot of parish centres have died a death and even the ones that are going well are finding things hard.”

Fr Murray said that several interesting items were found in the buildings stores when they were clearing it out.

“Downpatrick Silver and Reed Band used to rehearse in the hall and we found a baton and a drum. We gave the drum to Fr Brendan Smyth, the parish priest in Crossgar, as his father banged that drum and he was delighted to have received it,” he said.

“Also, we found a lovely statue of St Joseph which was over 80 years old and had been well fixed to a wall at the back of the building. We removed it and it’s now standing in front of St Patrick’s Church all brightly repainted.”

Fr Murray also mentioned the parish’s hope that a suitable arrangement would be found for the former Sisters of Mercy convent which sits beside St Patrick’s Church.

The Sisters of Mercy Congregation gave the building to Sr Consilio, which runs the Cuan Mhuire addiction recovery centre in Newry, in 2018. However, St Consilio decided last year that it was unable to take on the Downpatrick building on along with its other commitments and offered it to the parish.

Fr Murray said: “There are still ongoing discussions within the parish about the convent. However, we would hope that whatever happens with the convent building that it will be in keeping and in harmony with neighbouring our church.”