This year's Easter celebrations at St Illtyd’s Catholic Church in Wales have received an additional boost with the church being granted funding for urgent repairs costing nearly a million pounds.
The roof at St Illtyd’s Church and Community Centre in Dowlais, Merthyr Tydfil, has deteriorated at an alarming rate, leading to more and more leaks within the Grade II Listed building, notes the Archdiocese of Cardiff.
The church has been forced to rope-off parts of the building, due to falling debris from the roof. Rainwater is also causing extensive damage to the fabric of the sacred building.
The repairs are being supported by The Albert Gubay Charitable Foundation, the National Churches Trust and Welsh Government. Combined with support from the <mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color"><a href="https://listed-places-of-worship-grant.dcms.gov.uk">Listed Places of Worship Grant Scheme</a></mark> run by the UK government's Department for Culture, Media and Sport, more than £950,000 has been made available to undertake these repairs. <br><br>“We are so grateful to our generous funders, were it not for their support I don’t know how we would have kept the building open,” says Canon Barry English, parish priest at St Illtyd’s Church.
Archbishop Mark O’Toole, Catholic Archbishop of Cardiff, highlights that the fund will restore and renovate an “important Catholic landmark”.
The project will replace the failing asbestos roof covering with natural slate, thereby preventing water from entering the building. The roof will incorporate solar panels to reduce energy consumption, and the renovations will be accompanied by wildflower planting.
Local communities will be involved too, through collaborations with Brecon Cathedral (Church in Wales) and local schools and other community organisations, including the area's Malayalam and Filipino communities.<strong> </strong>
Situated on a characteristically steep Welsh hillside, the church operates on split levels, with the ground floor containing the worship space, and the lower ground floor housing a busy Community Centre. <br><br>Fr James Carroll initiated the building of the original church in 1844, which was funded by Dowlais Iron Works and local miners. The chirch was built by Irish migrants fleeing the Great Famine of the 1840s.
St Illtyd’s was the first Catholic church built in the Valleys. Fr Carroll died of cholera in 1846 and is buried in the church. As the Industrial Revolution took off, the church was reordered and extended in 1894 by Benedictine monks who also installed an ornate reredos.
In the 1900s, the church had a congregation of over 4,000 Catholics with schools, religious processions and a social club, while the church played a key role in the town.
The large stained-glass windows behind the altar depict Ss Patrick, David, Benedict and Illtyd. The church includes a recent work by Kevin Sinnott, the well-known Welsh painter depicting the growth of the Church in the Valleys.
In addition to its religious role, today the church and community centre continues to be a home to a thriving multi-national and multi-ethnic community, the archdiocese notes.
“[The funding] will safeguard the unique heritage of this historic church and keep it open and in use for the benefit of local people,” said Claire Walker, chief executive of the National Churches Trust. “Whether seeking quiet reflection, access to community services or a place to worship, the National Churches Trust helps hundreds of churches.”<br><br>Since 1953, the <a href="http://www.nationalchurchestrust.org/"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">National Churches Trust</mark></a> has provided funding of over £130 million to support the UK’s church buildings, almost all of it raised thanks to philanthropic trusts and individual donors. The Trust works with churches of all denominations across the UK, providing support, training and advice to keep British churches open and in good repair. <br><br>The Albert Gubay Charitable Foundation’s purpose is to fund projects run by registered charities in England, Wales, the Isle of Man and Republic of Ireland, which “change the lives of people most in need as well as supporting the Roman Catholic Church and its associated registered charities”.
“After helping to fund a small project at the church a few years ago, we realised that this bigger project was needed so that the parish and its partners will be able to fulfil all their plans to support the community for many years to come,” says Peter Heberlet, the foundation's grant manager. <br><br>The welcome news comes at the same time that the Church of Our Lady of the Assumption and St Gregory on Warwick Street in the heart of London is <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/warwick-streets-pipe-organ-restoration-project-struggling-to-find-grants/"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">having less luck</mark></a>. This Easter, the Warwick Street Church remains in the midst of a difficult fundraising campaign for the restoration of its esteemed pipe organ. <br><br><em>Photo: The outside of St Illtyd’s Church. (Photo courtesy Archdiocese of Cardiff.)</em>
