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	Price of Sin Puts Church on Brink By Colin James Adelaide Now [Australia] October 28, 2006 http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,20656896-5006301,00.html The Anglican Church in Adelaide faces financial collapse if it cannot raise more money to cover child sex abuse compensation claims, its annual conference has been told. The Diocese of Adelaide Synod last night heard the church had been forced to borrow $7.5 million to settle claims from victims of abuse committed by priests, church officials and church workers. A briefing paper prepared for the Synod says the church already had used the loan to settle claims totalling $4.5 million, with more expected to be privately negotiated over the next 18 months. The yearly cost of servicing the loan would average more than $1.25 million for the next eight years, leaving the church facing annual budget deficits until at least 2015. "Servicing the finance facility with respect to both principal and interests threatens serious compromise, even damage, to the Church's long-term mission," the paper says. Archbishop Jeffrey Driver yesterday urged Synod members and parishes across Adelaide to support an internal fundraising appeal to be launched by the church in a bid to raise money. The "Green Shoots Appeal" would encourage individual Anglicans to donate to a special fund to help cover the cost of paying compensation claims to child abuse victims. Other strategies to be implemented include: THE residential sub-division of 1000sq m - including a former tennis court - at the official residence of the Adelaide Archbishop, Bishop's Court, at North Adelaide. A REVIEW of all trust funds operated across the Diocese of Adelaide which hold an estimated $27 million. A REQUEST for one of the trusts, which sold property in Leigh St in the city for $6 million in 1996, to divert some of its investment earnings into the diocese. A LEVY on every parish in Adelaide totalling 1 per cent of its annual gross income for 10 years. ASKING other Anglican entities to financially assist the diocese. Archbishop Driver said yesterday the strategy was "critical to the future of the diocese".
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