Parochial house bulldozed

Father Patrick Delargy, PP, described the demolition of the priests' house at the site on Larne Road as a "sad" but necessary step.

The residence and the church have both been the targets of vandals over many years, the latest occurred just last month when paint was thrown over the steps and front door of the church.

For a period in the 1990s, loyalists held weekly protests while Mass was being held there which made headlines worldwide.

Records show that on July 8, 1996, just two months before the first Harryville Protest, a parish priest living alone on site was fortunate not to be seriously injured, or worse.

Speaking exclusively to The Ballymena Times about the decision to remove the priests' house, Fr Delargy said: 'It became impossible to live there with any sense of security and vandalism unfortunately still continues sporadically'.

"It is very sad. An era has come to an end".

While the Church opened 42 years ago and was dedicated on September 8,1968, the adjacent house was completed in March, 1970, and was occupied until 1997.

Fr Delargy pointed out also that over the years the Catholic demographic of the church's catchment area changed significantly and said he believed that this was due, in no small part, to life being increasingly "made unpleasant and difficult " for parishioners in Ballykeel and Harryville.

"It is a sad thing indeed when people are not able to continue living in an area as they have done over many years. When Ballykeel was established it was a mixed estate and there was a stage when Protestants and Catholics were living in harmony there.

"Many former residents recall fondly the happy days together with good neighbours and it had been hoped that it could be a model for a shared future. Unfortunately this did not happen".

Fr Delargy stressed that the parish had been fortunate and very thankful in recent years to have been offered support, both practical and prayerful, from clergy of other religious denominations in the borough, including Canon Stuart Lloyd from St Patrick's Church of Ireland. He hoped that those good relationships would continue in future in the interests of harmony and peace.

He said that the area where the priests' house once stood would be used in the future for additional car parking space for Mass goers.