Anglican Church struggling for money in several dioceses as tough times add up

By Jill Pengelley
Courier-Mail
June 22, 2014

http://www.couriermail.com.au/news/national/anglican-church-struggling-for-money-in-several-dioceses-as-tough-times-add-up/story-fnii5yv5-1226963021059

Archbishop Phillip Aspinall, at St Peter’s Cathedral in Adelaide.

St Peter's Cathedral, lit up at night for a match at the Adelaide Oval.

THE Anglican Church is in “real financial strife” in up to a third of its 23 dioceses across Australia, a spokeswoman says.

Dr Muriel Porter says the finances will be discussed at the church’s General Synod in Adelaide, which starts on Sunday.

“We have quite a few dioceses that look to be on the brink of bankruptcy,” she said yesterday.

“That’s a huge game-changer.

“We have the second-largest church (after the Catholic Church) with a number of its dioceses in real financial strife.”

Droughts, floods and depopulation were the main causes of financial hardship, leaving fewer parishioners, with less money to their churches.

Dr Porter, a General Synod standing committee member, said the national gathering in Adelaide would vote on appointing a Royal Commission officer to help with the church’s responses to the Royal Commission into child sexual abuse.

She said the Anglican Church was “thrilled” to be involved in the inquiry “but it is not coming cheap”.

“It is costing the churches a fortune just to brief lawyers to answer all the questions,” she said.

“The Royal Commission has got millions but the Government hasn’t resourced the churches to respond.

“The national church has a very small budget.”

Other issues to be addressed at the General Synod include immigration, global warming, freedom of speech, freedom of religion and mandatory reporting of abuse.

The Synod will vote to call on the Federal Government to revise aspects of its immigration policy, including:

ARBITRARY treatment of people based on their mode of arrival, rather than on their refugee status

EMOTIVE use of the term “illegal” to describe asylum seekers whose refugee status has yet to be determined

CONTINUING recourse to offshore detention facilities

IMMIGRATION detention of women and children

PERIODS of detention greater than three months,

The Synod also will vote on a motion that the church recommend to the Federal Government that child abuse reporting be mandatory for ministers of religion.

The Anglican Church’s Primate, Dr Phillip Aspinall, has announced he will stand down from the top post at next week’s meeting.

The Archbishop of Brisbane was elected Primate in 2005 and was approaching his maximum of nine years’ service.

“The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby is visiting in August to meet the Australia Primate,” Dr Aspinall said.

“It makes more sense that he meets with the incoming Primate because that’s the person he will be working closely with in coming years.”

He said it was important for the incoming Primate to continue to advocate for a more uniform approach to dealing with child sexual abuse across the church’s 23 independent dioceses.

Adelaide Archbishop Jeffrey Driver is among contenders to take over as Primate.