DETERMINED worshippers fighting to save under-threat Catholic churches have won "the battle but not the war" after challenging diocese bosses' closure plans.
Hymn-singing parishioners presented documents contesting the validity of axing Ackworth's Our Lady of Lourdes church, Holy Family in Chequerfield and St John's in Allerton Bywater to the Bishop of Leeds, the Rt Rev Arthur Roche.
Our Lady of Lourde
s and St John's were set to close on Sunday but will stay open after the last-ditch protest at the Diocese of Leeds headquarters on Thursday.
Malcolm Brumwell, spokesman for St John's parishioners, said: "Canon law says the bishop has the right to close the parishes down according to strict rules that have not been followed.
"We have challenged that, with a second petition stating a vote of no confidence in the bishop, and now our churches must stay open while he sets about following the proper channels.
"Everyone is delighted – we have won the battle but not the war."
Featherstone's St Gerard Majella church and St Edmund's church in Airedale are also on a hitlist of RC churches to be shut, then sold off by the diocese.
Church leaders say the closures, made after extensive consultation, will combat falling numbers of priests and congregations to achieve a target of one priest per 500 parishioners.
Worshippers have staged protests and campaigns in a bid to halt closures.
Neil Poundall, chairman of Ackworth Catholics Against Church Closure, said: "Our supposed final mass was held on Sunday. "But as the correct procedures were not followed, Our Lady of Lourdes legally and technically cannot close.
"We are still waiting for details of our next mass but very pleased at the extension of the church's life."
The full article contains 288 words and appears in Ponte and Cas Express newspaper.
