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Ring, ring... our church bell isn't working!

AN IRISHMAN has phoned the Pope to complain that the bell at his local church is not working. By Pat Holland - 29/04/08

John Hannan said: “I rang international inquiries and asked to be put through to the Pope in the Vatican.

“I got through to a female in the office and I told her to tell Pope Benedict about the bell in Kilmallock not ringing any more.”

Mr Hannan also contacted the office of the Bishop of Limerick, Dr Donal Murray, about the loss of the bell peal from the belfry at St Peter and St Paul parish church.

He said he is disgusted that the bell has been silenced. His father, William, received a papal medal for his work as a church campanologist many years ago

Mr Hannan said that the bell was no longer being rung because it might interfere with a broadband installation in the belfry, for which the church is receiving rental

payments.

He said: “They’re beaming broadband from the belfry and now the bell in Kilmallock is silent. If you want to go on the internet you will get on much faster in Kilmallock courtesy of the belfry.”

He said that elderly people in the area were also upset.Tommy Allen, who used to ring the bell for the angelus, funerals and other occasions, retired earlier this year.

A spokesman for Zone broadband denied its equipment had anything to do with the bell not being rung. It had antennae in the church since February 2000 and the bell was rung up to September 2007.

For the full article, get this week's Irish World.