Extremist Sect Sets Up Church
Wednesday March 29, 2006 Society of St Pius X
It could almost be from the Da Vinci Code. An extremist sect of the Roman Catholic Church, an empty church, a pot of cash and the threat of excommunication by the last Pope. But this tale of intrigue is real and is being played out on Tyneside where the sect is spending pounds 500,000 of Lottery cash to restore a run-down church. St Cuthbert’s in Bensham, Gateshead, has stood empty for 16 years. But now the John Dobson-designed building is set to re-open as the North East base of a fundamentalist society rejected by mainstream Catholics. The Society of St