Rising energy costs to hit local churches

Against a backdrop of spiralling energy costs and dwindling congregations, two local church leaders have spoken of the huge challenges they are facing this winter in trying to maintain light and heat in their local parishes.

Fr Tom Hogan, who was appointed Parish Priest in Birr four years ago, estimated that the parish is facing “a three-fold increase” in its energy bills this year, and said it will be “a very big challenge” for the parish to continue to meet the rising costs.

In Tullamore, Fr Joe Gallagher believes their heating and lighting costs will be “more than double” this winter, in comparison to last year.

Birr parish is in the Diocese of Killaloe and is part of cluster of parishes which also includes the Church of the Annunciation in Carrig. “Luckily, we just completed a project on the lighting in St Brendan’s Church where we converted all the lights to LEDs, so that will make some difference to our energy bill,” said Fr Tom.

However, both St Brendan’s Church and the Church of the Annunciation in Carrig, have oil-fired heating systems and with home heating oil prices more than double what they were a year ago, Fr Tom Hogan acknowledged that it will “not be possible” to meet the soaring heating bill from existing parish resources.

“Our congregation is made up, in the main, of an older age profile, so we have to turn on the heating for all our Masses, and we are not skimping on that, but it is going to be a big challenge to heat our churches in the coming months, there is no denying that,” he said.

Faced with a significant drop in the church-going population, Fr Tom Hogan says the parish cannot keep “appealing to the same people” to make an even greater financial contribution “at a time when they are already trying to meet the challenge of rising energy costs in their own homes and businesses”.

To this end, a fundraising concert with Patrick Feeney will take place in St Brendan’s Church, Birr on December 9 next, with 50% of the proceeds on the night going towards the upkeep of the parish and the remainder going to the Offaly Hospice Foundation.

The priest expressed the hope that the energy supports announced by the Government as part of this year’s budget package can be extended to cover the cost of running churches.

Catholic Bishops called last week for the State energy supports to be extended to include community facilities which are not grant aided, including parish centres, community halls and church building themselves. The bishops noted how “especially during winter church buildings are frequented by the homeless and vulnerable to keep warm and to be safe.”

Meanwhile, Tullamore parish is also facing similar difficulties to Birr in meeting its spiralling energy costs this winter, with local Parish Priest, Fr Joe Gallagher, admitted that it will “certainly be a big challenge”.

He estimated that the heating and lighting bill for the Church of the Assumption in Tullamore alone will be “more than double” what it was last year, and pointed out that, not alone does the oil-fired heating system have to be switched on for all Masses during the winter months, but the church also has to be heated for all other events that take place such as weddings, funerals and christenings.

“We have done some work in terms of lighting with low-wattage LED bulbs, and we have also updated the controls on our heating system, but we are still facing huge bills nonetheless,” he admitted.

Tullamore parish is also exploring more sustainable means of heating their church buildings such as renewable technologies, but Fr Joe Gallagher said there is “no quick-fix solution”. He points out that the Parish Centre is heated by means of a geothermal heating system and is also “very well insulated” as it was completed in 2008.

The main source of funding for Tullamore parish is the weekly plate collection at all Masses and the envelope collection and Fr Joe Gallagher said parishioners have been “very generous” to date in supporting the parish. He paid particular reference to the generosity of parishioners in clearing the parish debt and says he is “optimistic” that parishioners will once again “show their support to the parish as best they can, bearing in mind that every household and business will be facing their own challenges with energy bills this winter.”