'There are too many people at your services. Please stop this at once'

Blessed are the servants of the Lord, except, it seems, those whose services are too popular for the liking of the local council. At a time when church leaders are deeply worried about falling congregations, a parish priest has been asked to cut numbers because of "overcrowding".

The warning to Fr Patrick McMahon, of St John's in Chorlton cum Hardy, Manchester, arrived as parishioners at the neighbouring St Aidan's in Wythenshawe are campaigning to save their church from closure because of a slump in worshippers.

The letter from Manchester City Council followed a particularly well-attended family mass where hundreds had turned up. The council said they had received a complaint from a member of the public.

The letter from the council said: "While you will obviously want to maximise the numbers attending the church, you should be aware that you have duties under the Health and Safety at Work Act to ensure the safety of members of the public while on your premises.

"We have recently received a telephone call from a member of your congregation concerned about the safety of people attending services due to potential overcrowding.

"You may wish to evaluate the risk of persons being able to safely evacuate the building in an emergency and put appropriate measures in place to control this risk, by restricting numbers if necessary."

A bemused Fr McMahon said: "I could not believe it when I received the letter talking about restricting numbers. There are five doors at the church; three were open throughout the service and the other two could easily have been opened in the event of an emergency.

"I cannot believe someone could have made a complaint about too many people in church. It is unbelievable at a time when church attendances are falling that there have been moans about too many people turning up for mass."

Peter McLaughlin, who was present at the service, said: "It was a full house but people were not being squashed or anything like that. It was a family mass with lots of children and it was an excellent atmosphere. Fr McMahon is a good parish priest and for someone to report him like this is absolutely ridiculous."

Another parishioner said: "The council are acting like they are jobsworths. They should know better."

A council spokesperson said: "We have no desire to stop people from worshipping and have simply sent an informal letter to the church."