FIRST, the “bad” news: the dear old Church of England has been hit by a new slump in its congregations, with the latest figures showing its fifth year-on-year decline.
Also, the Church’s first analysis of its worshippers showed that nearly half are pensioners.
Rowan Williams
The established Church has lost more than 40,000 worshippers since 2003, shortly after Dr Rowan Williams became Archbishop of Canterbury in December 2002. Average weekly attendance fell from 1.187 million in 2003 to 1.145 million in 2008. In spite of a rise in the number of children and young people at services, the average age of a member of a Church of England congregation is 61, according to statistics published last week.
The “good” news is that an influential Parliamentary committee is recommending that Britain’s cash-strapped cathedrals should receive direct Government funding for the first time.
The Public Accounts Committee, chaired by the Conservative backbencher Edward Leigh, who is on the council of Lincoln Cathedral, has said that direct funding might help the ten cathedrals that charge for entry to cease doing so.
Last year, English Heritage announced it was ending its programme of cathedral grants, even though a survey by them showed that more than £100 million is needed within the next decade to keep England’s 59 Roman Catholic and Anglican cathedrals standing.
The work still needed doing despite £250 million of repairs over the past two decades.
English Heritage blamed shortfalls in government funding for the decision to end after 19 years its annual £3 million scheme to help towards cathedral repairs.
Janet Gough, director of cathedrals for the Archbishops of Canterbury and York, said:
This has come out of the blue. It is the first time a parliamentary body has explicitly said that money should go from the public purse towards the care of cathedrals.
The committee’s recommendation, in its newly-published report Promoting Participation with the Historic Environment, states:
English cathedrals represent some of our most important architectural heritage yet many of them charge the public for entry. These buildings are expensive to look after and the department (of culture) and English Heritage should work together to find ways to fund their conservation so that they can be less reliant on charging for entry, which could deter people from visiting.
Labour MP Frank Field, chairman of the Cathedrals Fabric Commission, added:
This is the first time Parliament has asked the Government for some direct funding for cathedrals. At last Parliament sees the importance of cathedrals in earning money for this country, in expanding local employment and above all as part of the face we wish to show to the world.
Last December, following a plea by Rowan Williams  for state funding for church buildings, Keith Porteous Wood, the National Secular Society’s Executive Director pointed out:
The public already pay tens of millions of pounds each year towards church upkeep through the lottery and heritage bodies and tax concessions. The further sums the Archbishop is seeking from the public funds are just a fraction of what will be expected in the longer term as Anglican church attendance plummets.
The Church saying ‘we can’t pay’ is tantamount to a declaration of bankruptcy which in the case of an individual or commercial organisation would trigger the organisation’s loss of control of its assets and them coming under independent control for the benefit of creditors – in this case taxpayers.
Over the next forty years three quarters of the Church of England’s churches – 14,000 of them – will become redundant for want of sufficient congregants. Many are not grade one buildings and will be worth billions of pounds. The proceeds of the sale of these redundant churches should be used to defray the expenses of upkeep of listed buildings before the hard-pressed taxpayer is asked for hand-outs.
He added:
The Church says it needs its vast wealth to spend on wages and pensions, but the state pensions are about to go into meltdown, and this does not seem to concern the Archbishop.
Redundant listed churches should be used imaginatively, such as in the Netherlands, where they become libraries and museums, for example.
It is true church buildings in France are financed from public funds, but they are publicly owned and often local people object to paying to maintain for a building that is hardly used. Sometimes communities refuse to pay for the upkeep of dilapidated churches and they are bulldozed.
The Freethinker was founded in 1881 by GW Foote, an outspoken critic of religion. After the publication of 
January 25th, 2010 at 9:57 am
This really is scandalous. This is the same church that invokes medeival rules, with pitiless disregard, for some poor and struggling farmer or retired person, who find they have bought a property under the aegis of the some church. They are then forced, and I mean forced, to pay out massive somes even though they may have no religious ties or sympathies. I heard one bishop say, “It has to be done if we are to maintain the church.”
Next, it is my taxes that are being filched (and I pay plenty) to pay for these cathedrals and whatever privilges they demand. Yet, I hear that these same “democrats”, including the whiny Frank Field, say nothing about the current campaign in the Lords from unelected bishops to exempt churches from equal opportunities legislation when gays, for example, apply for church jobs.
Lastly, for the moment, when people can’t afford to get their teeth fixed should we be shovelling money towards cathedrals.
January 25th, 2010 at 10:32 am
What does he look like!
January 25th, 2010 at 11:13 am
I assume, if the church wants us to pay for these cathedrals, they’ll be handing the deeds over to English Heritage?
I thought not.
January 25th, 2010 at 11:39 am
I think many Cathedrals are an important part of European history and culture. As such they should be owned and maintained by a publicly owned body such as the NT or EH which have experience with maintaining buildings of cultural significance.
Of course, I’m talking about Cathedrals such as Winchester, Exeter and York. Crap ones such as Guildford and Milton Keynes should be converted to tax-paying offices, shops or brothels or just knocked down for car park space.
January 25th, 2010 at 11:45 am
I think he may be about to start baking Hot Cross Buns for Easter! Someone once said the Archbishop was a right master baker…or something like that.
Perhaps on the subject of funding, an entry charge could be made for those wishing to look around the cathedrals, this would include people like me who though atheistic in my views can see the beauty in the architecture, but remove anyone not interested from having to fork out for the upkeep. Also put an annual membership fee on the congregations of the CoE to cover the running costs of the church infrastructure. Admittedly that would probably see the congregations drop in size even more but at least they would be to blame for their own demise by being too materialistic instead of ‘true good christians’ who denounce wealth and choose a life of simple ‘god-given’ things. Just a thought.
January 25th, 2010 at 12:59 pm
They should sell of their palaces and other properties to pay for the repairs of the Cathedrals.
January 25th, 2010 at 1:33 pm
If the public is going to take responsibility for these buildings then they should become public buildings i.e they should be open for non-discriminatory public use.
So civil partnerships should be able to use them for their ceremonies – and the local clergy shouldn’t be able to ban things they disapprove of like Yoga!
January 25th, 2010 at 2:42 pm
I thought wearing one’s underpants on one’s head was a sign of dementia.
Not his fault, poor chap, religion can do that to you.
January 25th, 2010 at 3:24 pm
Kev
I’m pretty certain most cathedrals are already charging an entrance fee. Coventry started charging this week in fact.Chester and Exeter charge plus many others and St Pauls is or was £11.00. I agree with Perspix that they should be maintained but kept by a trust if they want taxpayers money.Can’t remember who called them “giant Wendy houses”
January 25th, 2010 at 4:10 pm
The C of E wants as many churches as possible to remain as such to give the impression of its power, influence and interference; and expects us, the taxpayer, to fund it. The C of E – which is fairly wealthy anyway – could sell off the little used churches to fund the more popular venues. It is time some of these theatres of mumbo-jumbo-ism were put to better use.
Quote gsw “I thought wearing one’s underpants on one’s head was a sign of dementia”. It is, old Dumbledore has forgotten to put a pencil up each nostril; he does say wibble, wibble, wibble though.
January 25th, 2010 at 7:46 pm
I would be sorry to see some cathedrals go. But, as usual, the bishops and co want it both ways: taxes pay for the cathedrals but the church keeps them. Before long they will be equalling the excesses of the Windsors; whose freeloading record sets the bar very high. They keep the buildings and lands and taxes are lashed out to maintain them and should there be a fire or whatever then it is important that we maintain the castle or whatever in the public interest. The public, of course, would never be allowed inside except Buck House where the entry fee is high, I am told.
January 25th, 2010 at 7:56 pm
My history on CofE is vague, but isn’t that the church that got started because some parasite of a king, with the xtains morals of a dungfly, couldn’t get a divorce thru the pope so he told him to piss off and started the CofE????
Hay!! Y’al hear about Separation of church and state!!!!
Oh! Sorry! We all here in the US don’t know too much about that either!!!! As we are have taxes raped from our pockets to pay for religious schite too!!!!
I liked the way the vikings dealt with your religious leaders! Weren’t they from Sweden? Maybe there is a lesson there somewhere.
January 25th, 2010 at 10:14 pm
CybrgnX. That is he. Around 1520, I think. Fat, thieving, torturing scumbag and after 20 years of shagging anyone he chose decided he wanted a “legitimate” heir and Anne Boleyn was told to piss off. Pope didn’t like it so Fat Harry started up his own church with him as the Top Banana.
Same deal continues to this day. Charles Windsor (known to his many arse licking buddies as Prince Charles) wants a change. Charles, not the sharpest knife in the drawer although regarded in his fevered fantasies as a genius – spouts crap on medecine and wants new age bollocks paid for by the state; considers himself a world class architect – wants to be the “Defender of all the Faiths” which is quite a commitment. I don’t mean being it; I mean discovering what the hell he means. He himself has no idea of course. Even his ignorant statement missed out 90% of the UK who by any sensible assessment are as religious as my dog. They don’t think about it and at best manage “there must be something there.”
January 26th, 2010 at 2:02 am
It would be a pity to see some of the beautiful cathedrals fall into ruin but if the taxpayer is to foot the bill than the churches must hand over the deeds for the buildings and land and pay for their use when they require them.
January 27th, 2010 at 6:45 pm
As a resident of Guildford, I agree with Perspix. I would actually be happy to pay for the up keep of, say, Wells cathedral, but certainly not Guildfords. It is a monstrosity.