Calling On The Head Of The Dominicans To Communicate With Parishioners

Tallaght Relay Walk participants on Saturday in Ashbourne

I have expressed my disappointment today at the response received from Dominican headquarters in Tallaght on Saturday last when she and a group of parishioners walked from Drogheda to Tallaght to hand in a petition of over 22,000 signatures in support of Saving the Dominican Church in Drogheda.

The priests in Drogheda received word last year that the Dominican church and Priory in Drogheda would be closing after 800 years of association in the town.

Since then I have worked with the campaigners urging the Prior in Tallaght to rethink this decision and to engage with the priests and parishioners in Drogheda. I have been immensely touched by the quiet but determined manner of both the priests and the people of Drogheda who have held numerous events throughout the year in support of the campaign. 

Saturday's walk to Tallaght was made to demonstrate our determination and to encourage the head of the order to communicate with the group. Our walk was made with positivity and hope. 
On our arrival however we received negativity and disdain. It was heartbreaking to watch the elderly priests and parishioners be withered with a callous response, some of whom who were visibly upset. Calls to make a further appointment with the Prior were rejected . Calls to engage with the priest in the order who answered the door were rejected.

Over the past year I have written to and phoned the main house in Tallaght and received no response. On Saturday evening, despite informing the prior we would be attending we were informed he was not at home. We were met at the door instead by a priest who was indifferent and apathetic to the campaign.

In recent years the church has received a lot of negativity I really feel that this is a time when the clergy should be encouraging people to return to mass and to the church and certainly not be treating them impassively when they call for their church to remain open. 

I am now calling on the Prior and Council of the Dominican Order to meet with the campaigners in Drogheda- to sit down and listen to the people and their priests - to communicate. 
We may have received a poor response on Saturday but this has actually made us stronger. We will now take the campaign to Rome and ask the head of the Dominican Order to listen.