tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6861480576960760833.post4501586712158664925..comments2024-03-28T11:52:35.171+00:00Comments on Woolgathering in North East England: Michael Sadgrove's Blog: Crumbling Cathedrals?Aquiloniushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15098649175728796819noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6861480576960760833.post-80331848384601839932017-10-25T15:52:48.417+01:002017-10-25T15:52:48.417+01:00Crossing the Channel a year or two ago I visited C...Crossing the Channel a year or two ago I visited Chartres my favourite Gothic cathedral. It was good to see that millions of Euros were being spent by the French government on its restoration. I was also delighted to see that Malcolm Miller, the English guide, was still there. I remember first having a brilliant guided tour of the cathedral by him as long ago as the early 1970s. I believe that he is a graduate of Durham University.Father Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04902961006821419938noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6861480576960760833.post-22207668805169945502017-10-25T14:36:39.256+01:002017-10-25T14:36:39.256+01:00Part of your problem, Michael, is that many people...Part of your problem, Michael, is that many people believe that churches and Cathedrals are already funded by the government. Many people don't know that Cathedrals are still in use as churches and not purely monuments. They complain if there's a service on!Athenahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08497065436976563532noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6861480576960760833.post-65263662410476331942017-10-25T13:40:51.172+01:002017-10-25T13:40:51.172+01:00Many thanks for this and for all your posts. This ...Many thanks for this and for all your posts. This is something that has exercised me for some time, and it would be interesting to know whether Bernard Taylor’s report on church buildings (commissioned by Mr Osborne) has come out. My anxieties are not so much to do with cathedrals as with parish churches (as well as the less fashionable cathedrals). I have worshipped at more than 3,500 parish churches over the last decade and the demographics are catastrophic in 95%+ places. I would reckon a complete financial collapse is quite near to hand (although it has been predicted frequently over the last couple of generations). However, the Church is fast running out of options. The problem with getting the state to pick up the tab is that the wider political climate has become increasingly antipathetic to organised religion, and public subvention of the Church is unlikely to prove popular – this would be the case even if this were not a period of austerity and economic anxiety. <br /><br />At present (and as you will be well aware) we have a system whereby churches are ‘closed for regular worship’ (a disingenuous phrase, since the closure is definitive), and are then put through a not especially scientific process in order to determine their future use. It is often a matter of happenstance as to whether an ancient building will be vested in the CCT/FFC or put to some secular use (or, worst of all, privatised by being turned into a residential unit). Since the ability of local communities to rise to the occasion is highly variable, the resources of the CCT/FFC have been stretched to their limits (despite the recent increase in the CCT budget) and DBFs (in whom closed churches are temporarily vested) have every incentive to maximise yield in view of their rapidly increasing pension liabilities, a very large proportion of our stock of ancient churches is at risk of being lost to the public forever (see the current fate of Astwood in Bucks or Grimsdale in Cumberland).<br /><br />You may recall that Combes and Briand did not just vest cathedrals in the French state, but that all parish churches and other religious buildings were vested in the communes under the supplementary law of 1906 and the decree of 1912. In addition, the Church of France was comprehensively dis-endowed (in much the same way as the Church of Ireland and the Church in Wales). The vesting of parish buildings in the state was a considerable boon to the French Church, although friction could be acute where there were anti-clerical mayors, and many communes (essentially, the pre-revolutionary parishes) are frequently hostile or are simply too small to care for their churches. The state of many parish churches is therefore variable, although I understand that the culture ministry or departmental authorities sometimes provide assistance. Of course, the position is quite different in Alsace-Lorraine, where the Wilhelmine system still prevails. If England (and perhaps also Scotland and Wales) were to go down the same path and title were to be transferred to central or local government, state aid would only be palatable if the Church were to be partially dis-endowed: in other words, the Commissioners would have to transfer a proportion – perhaps a large proportion – of their capital to DCMS (or some other body) who would then have a permanent fund for maintenance, which could then be topped up by the Treasury. Naturally, worship could continue to be held gratis, but there would presumably be additional emphasis on putting the buildings to alternative use. Rather than transfer the entire stock, however, title in those establishments extant prior to, say, 1840 should pass (this would include Victorian re-builds of ancient foundations), plus those Grade I or II* buildings erected after that date. In this way the institutional ad hoccery of the Pastoral Division and the uncertainty and anxiety associated with the closure process would cease. However, all this needs to be done quickly, before it is too late and the political mood changes further. <br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6861480576960760833.post-35534759332112064822017-10-25T12:59:45.699+01:002017-10-25T12:59:45.699+01:00Last time I was in Durham for the "Big Meetin...Last time I was in Durham for the "Big Meeting" I noticed that the cathedral's central tower was covered in bandages. It is good to see that the greatest cathedral on planet earth is receiving such TLC in order to prevent it from crumbling. I look forward to seeing it again once the bandages have been removed and the Zion of the North is restored to its former glory. Father Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04902961006821419938noreply@blogger.com