A RALLYING call has gone out to members of Leven's only Roman Catholic church.
St Peter's in Durie Street is due to close after Easter, but local worshippers believe it might be saved if enough people return for services.
Cardinal Keith O'Brien, one of Scotland's most eminent Catholic church figures, was instrumental in the closure decision and is due to visit Leven in May.
And campaigners hope a busy church might persuade him to think again.
Jane Ballantyne of Leven is appealing to people who have drifted away from St Peter's to come back and, hopefully, allow the presence of a Catholic church in the town to continue.
But parish priest Father Joseph McIntyre said the decision was also forced by a shortage of priests and the high cost of maintaining the building.
Before leaving for a new post in Stirlingshire, Father McIntyre said Levenmouth had three churches in a five-mile radius – St Peter's, St Agatha's in Methil and St Giles in Kennoway – and St Peter's had become superfluous, while a great deal of restoration also had to be carried out on the building.
In recent years, to ease strain on over-burdened priests, Cardinal O'Brien had set a maximum rule of three masses per week. This meant the loss of Sunday morning mass at St Peter's, said Father McIntyre, who said 120 people still attended mass on Saturday nights.
He added the Cardinal had decided closing St Peter's would free a priest – Father McIntyre himself – to take up the post in Denny, which had been vacant for some time.
The congregation from St Peter's had drifted largely to Methil and Kennoway, said Ms Ballantyne, but members had been advised by priests to encourage fresh support.
Campaigns had been actively fought in the past to retain St Peter's, she added, and a return of parishioners might protect it again.