At the back of St Albert’s Church on Sunday near a table bearing prayer cards for recently deceased members of their congregation, three women were weeping openly. Along with more than 100 other parishioners they had just attended the last ever Sunday Mass in this church on Glasgow’s south side. Behind the sadness, though, was cold fury at the manner of their treatment by their archbishop, William Nolan.

Along with a dozen or so other Catholic parishes in Glasgow, the St Albert’s parishioners were told they were subject to closure and a merger process with a neighbouring parish, owing to a shortage of priests and high maintenance costs. They accepted this, but objected to the merger with St Helen’s, a parish more than a mile away and presenting access difficulties for elderly and infirm parishioners.

They were also dismayed that the consultation they were promised never happened. This turned to anger when the parish priest at St Helen’s, Fr Benneth Onyebuchukwu began dismantling the parish council and finance committee with no prior warning. He’s never been seen in their parish since.

The £116k in the St Albert’s accounts were also taken over by the new parish, with no explanation given.

“Fr Benneth effectively became our parish priest while the merger process was being undertaken,” a member of St Albert’s told me. “But he’s never set foot inside our church and when we’ve inquired about the management of the funds that we’ve contributed over several decades, we’ve been met with silence.”

The St Albert’s parishioners initiated a two-part process under canon law with Rome to keep both their church and parish open. The Vatican has upheld one part pertaining to the church and is currently considering an appeal not to close down the parish. They had hoped that their church would remain open while the appeal was proceeding, but were suddenly informed in December that the last Sunday Mass would be on January 25.

“Nolan has treated us with contempt throughout this process of closure and he’s not fit to be in a leadership role in the Catholic Church,” said one. “He should hang his head in shame,” her friend said. “Before Christmas, he told his priests that they should treat people the way Jesus would treat them. That makes him a hypocrite. He’s treated the people of this parish abominably.”

Another woman sobbed as she told me what St Albert’s meant to her and her family. “My children were all baptised here and received their........

© Herald Scotland