Church of St Margaret Clitherow, Threshfield

Submitted by Alan Marsden on Mon, 09/12/2024 - 00:00

I called at the Roman Catholic Church of St Margaret Clitherow this winter, located at Threshfield in Wharfedale. It was barely past dawn (my photographs have been brightened up), so I could not reasonably gain admission, though the outside is interesting enough. Despite Threshfield’s, and its more famous sister Grassington’s, historic centres, this church is unashamedly modern, with no forced attempts to look medieval such as other Roman churches have tried. Its website is particularly helpful, and regarding its building it comments:

The church is a mixture of tradition and innovation; using traditional materials to blend with its surroundings, but departing from the usual style. At first sight, the church gives one the impression of a pyramid, as the zinc clad buttresses extend from the ground to the apex of the roof - like some structures of ancient times. The architect's inspiration actually came whilst browsing through sketches of a simple church built by a priest in Africa, using poles, wattle and palm leaves. On closer examination, one finds that the buttresses reach out to the ground beyond the building, which turns out to be a square upon a square, demonstrating God's order in the universe. (John & Margaret Loughlin)

I rather like its unusual design and unconventional shape; the architect they picked was a good one. The work was completed by the autumn of 1973.

I once had a conversation with Father Peter Dawber who was the priest here in the early 2000s, and in whose memory a tree grows in the grounds. He remarked that while the building was going up, someone had daubed on the wall ‘Keep Grassington Protestant’. The seventies were certainly a time of sectarian tensions in Ulster and central Scotland, but there must also have been at least one ‘hot prot’ in this dale, too, for whom the building of this Mass House was a concession too far.

I am something of a fervent Protestant myself, and immensely glad that we had a Reformation in this land. Nevertheless, Roman Catholics have a right to gather and worship in a way they think best. Furthermore, Protestantism is not itself the truth; there are many who consider themselves Protestants, be they Anglicans, Methodists, Pentecostal and Congregationalists, who do not actually know God’s grace for themselves. Labels, names, sects and denominations mean nothing to the Great God: the only thing that matters is whether one’s sins have been forgiven and that we have received God’s free grace for ourselves. I could not worship in this building, but I can certainly admire it from without, praying that those within meet the very Saviour of the world.

Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, the hour is coming when you will neither on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we know what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”