By Ray Cutajar
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Father Francis always wanted to have a proper church for the local Catholic community. He never forgot his boyhood dream of building a church and so he finally embarked on the seemingly impossible task of collecting enough money to enable his wish to materialise.
Father Francis Scalpell wrote about 25,000 letters to many people around the world, many of whom were heads of far-away parishes, who he thought could help. He wrote incessantly, with the utmost determination and with full faith that help would come. Fr.Francis niece, May Leone Ganado had told me that his pen ended up with worn-out grooves where his fingers used to hold it! Ed Wharton used to post these letters for Fr.Francis and so was a witness to the priest's determination and efforts. Please click the following links to view two letters written by Father Scalpell to one of his many benefactors: Letters by kind courtesy of Mr.John R.Ryan-Park, Hamilton, Lanarkshire, Scotland Father Francis travelled wide around his parish on his only means of transport - his bicycle. He cycled thousands of miles to collect money for the Dolgellau church.  Father Francis' helpers As a result of the priest's letters and contacts, donations started coming in, large and small, from all parts of the world. In Malta Fr.Francis found great help from Fr. Charles Vella (founder of the Kana Movement in Malta), who collected money on his behalf. More help came from the Ireland from readers of the various Catholic newwpapers and magazines, as told in our last webpage 'At Dolgellau' The final donation, a five-figure sum, towards the Dolgellau church was given to Fr.Francis by a stranger who laid down two conditions: firstly that he would remain anonymous and secondly that the new church must be a building in harmony with its austere mountainous surroundings. Jack Moran's contribution towards the church and his remarkable feats Jack Moran is a veteran long-distance walker who has repeatedly helped people in need through the collection of sponsor money for his extraordinary marathon walks. Jack has clocked up tens of thousands of miles along the years and has taken part in more than 50 major walks, raising thousands of pounds for charity. If Jack's walks were added together, his steps could have taken him more than half way round the world's circumference.  He has always chosen to walk for charities and other good causes that are close to his heart. In 2003 Jack walked 40 miles in 14 hours from Crosby to Prestatyn in North Wales to raise funds for a Chernobyl children's charity. Jack, who is a Liverpool FC fan, has also walked 230 miles from Anfield stadium to Glenbuck, which is the birthplace of William "Bill" Shankly, who was the Reds' former football managers and is still considered one of the Britain's most successful and respected managers. Jack's trips have included walking and cycling to Lourdes to fund pilgrimages for needy people, walking to Bosnia to help refugee children and taking part in 1,000 mile charity trek for the sake of 25 disabled World War II merchant seamen and their helpers. Jack was a pillar of help for Father Francis. He knew Father Francis for many years and the priest had a profound effect on Jack's life. The close friendship between Fr.Scalpell and the Moran family grew along the years and the deep respect for the priest is still very much alive, even after many years after Fr.Francis' death.   When he had met Father Francis he was immediately impressed by the priest's efforts towards the church and wanted to help him. To this very day Jack continues to deeply respect the memory of Fr.Francis and still visits the Church of Our Lady of Seven Sorrows, especially on special occasions. Almost every week Jack used to cycle from Crosby, Liverpool to Dolgellau for seven hours. He used to leave home at midnight to arrive in Dolgellau at around 7.00 a.m. He would spend some hours there and then cycle 7 hours back to his home. On the day when Father Francis told him that he wanted to build a new church, Jack asked him where he would be getting the money from. The collections from the church usually were a few shillings and it was impossible to finance the building just from the church collections. However, Father Francis was confident that the money would come from Providence. The next week Father Scalpell started writing letters to people who he thought could help him. After writing a number of letters, the nib on the old fountain pen which he was using broke and the fountain pen became unusable. At that time fountain pens were very expensive and Fr.Francis could not find one in Dolgellau. He needed one which was good enough to write the number of letters which he intended to write. The next week Jack went around Liverpool searching for a good fountain pen for Father Francis. He knew that the pen was going to be used a great deal and so wanted to buy him the finest one which he could find. He borrowed some money from relatives and bought the best fountain pen he found, with a gold nib. Jack says that it was with this fountain pen that Father Scalpell wrote the thousands of letters through which he collected enough money to pay for the new fine church which we see today. Jack also confirms what Fr.Francis' niece (May Leone Ganado) had told me, that the repeated usage of the fountain pen had left grooves from the priest's fingers on it, where he used to hold it. Jack Moran continued to help Fr.Francis by collecting money through sponsorships for his marathon walks. He repeatedly collected high amounts of money towards the building of the church which we see today. For example, on 28th September 1968 on the occasion of the 40th year after Fr.Francis' arrival in Dolgellau, Jack Moran walked 80 miles to Dolgellau non-stop. Starting at 4 o'clock on Friday, he arrived there at 9.30 p.m. on Saturday and presented the sponsor money to Father Francis. He had appealed for sponsors for this walk so as to be able to give Fr.Scalpell a suitable jubilee gift. Jack also booked three coaches to go for the special Mass to celebrate the occasion and one coach contained a complete choir to sing at the Mass. Fr.Francis was thrilled to see his new church so full and this also made that day memorable to him.  So, part of this church came from the goodness of Jack's heart and his unbounded generosity and the church is still very close to Jack's heart. Jack' closeness to the Dolgellau church has remained, while he has also stayed faithful to the memory of Fr.Scalpell, as we shall see in the 'Final thoughts' webpage. The Church  The architect of the church was Maurice Pritchard, but Father Scalpell contributed a great deal in the design of the church and presbytery from what he had learned in his young age. The work began in 1963 adn took about four years to complete. The cost of the church amounted to 68,000 Pounds, a very high figure at the time. The church's main doorway is a replica of Cormac's Chapel on the Rock of Cashel (also known as Cashel of the Kings, a historic site in Ireland's County Tipperary). Before Fr.Scalpell built the chapel, he kept a post-card of the Norman doorway of the Chapel of teh Rock of Cashel. "I have kept this picture for years. When in God's good time I can build a new church in Dolgellau, this Norman doorway will serve as a model for the porch" (source: Pictorial, week ending September 29, 1956).  The crucifix above the Dolgellau chapel was sculpted by Professor Castiglione, whose work is also found in St.Peter's in Rome and in the bronze doors of Milan Cathedral. On either side of the entrance are carved the coat of arms of Wales and of Malta.  The main feature in the chapel is the sanctuary, where the altar, a slab of Welsh slate, is bathed in the light of the five Norman windows of the apse. Inlaid in the altar are portions of stone brought by one of Father Scalpell's many friends from Gethsemane and Bethlehem. The inscription in Welsh on the main altar reads: "Cynifer bynnag y gwynewch hyn, er cof am danafi gwynewch ef" (As often as you do these things you will do them in remembrance of me). A wooden cross was sent over from Malta and hung on the main altar. The latter, made of mahagony by a certain Sliema woodworker, Mr.Zarb, was painted by Father Francis' brother Emmanuel (died 1973), or 'Manweli' as Father Francis used to call him. A stone from Nazareth was also incorporated in the altar of the chapel of Our Lady, while another stone from Mount Tabor was included in another chapel.   The main pillars of the interior are pierced by openings enabling worshippers to see the sanctuary. Especially striking in its simplicity is the circular baptistry, to which the faithful descend by two steps, to symbolise the Lord's descent into the tomb and our rising again in Him. The seven windows in the church represent the seven gifts of the Spirit.   The set of 10 wrought-iron chandeliers was designed by Father Scalpell himself, just a few months before his demise in 1970. He commissioned Mr.John Jones, a blacksmith at Eglwysbach, Colwyn Bay, to make the chandeliers. Each chandelier, suspended by steel 'strings' weighs 40 lbs. Benefactors of the church, many of whom were readers of the Universe magazine, covered the cost of the chandeliers.   Apart from the financial difficulties, it appears Father Scalpell also had to overcome resistance from members of the Welsh clergy, who may even have tried to hinder his efforts. However, he had learned from his past and was determined to stand up against any adversaries, even if some of these were members of the Church in Wales. At last, Father Francis' dream was fulfilled when the church was completed in 1966. The church was inaugurated on Sunday 4thSeptember 1966 and the Most Reverend Dr.Petit, Bishop of Menevia, consecrated the church. A large crowd, including clergy from local non-catholic churches, attended the opening of the church. 
 Many people travelled from Liverpool, Manchester and surrounding areas for the occasion. Many people were unable to enter the church and they had to receive Holy Communion from the steps of the church. The Epistle of the mass was read in Welsh by Fr.James O'Reilly of Barmouth. The collection from the congregation towards the church amounted to �156 on that day. The happiest person on that day was Fr.Francis.  The church, with room for 250 people, is quite large for the limited local Catholic population who still attend church services. In an article published in the Catholic Pictorial on 1stFebruary 1970, Fr.Francis was quoted saying that he would welcome coach parties in the summer and would arrange either Mass or Benediction to suit visitors. "I rely on summer visitors for my main congregations. But last summer I did not have one coach load. The summer before only one or two". |
