Focus on the social issues, not gardens
I read with interest of the £3 million plan for proposed new gardens at Leicester Cathedral (September 18).
This is on top of £7 million recently spent by the Diocese of Leicester on the extravagant renovation of St Martins House with opulent conferencing and banqueting facilities, and a further £2.6 million on the renovation of Launde Abbey, the diocese retreat.
All of these projects have been funded in part by donations, public money and the lottery.
In seeking further funding for the cathedral gardens, the Bishop of Leicester should ask himself whether accepting money from sources such as the £19 million Connecting Leicester Fund is morally right in such hard economic times.
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Also, if accepting such funding fits within the teachings of a Christian church.
It is even more important at the present for the Church to allow what limited resources are available to be directed towards such issues as poverty, unemployment, suffering, substance abuse, homelessness and family breakdown.
Oddly, this proposed £3 million project comes shortly after the Board of Mission and Social Responsibility of the Diocese of Leicester – a registered charity started in 1963 and working for the relief of suffering, poverty and promoting social responsibility – ceased to exist.
It closed in July without any announcement.
Does this mean that landscaping the cathedral gardens has become a more important priority than the church promoting and meeting some of its social responsibilities?
name and address supplied.
Comments
by New_Walk_View
Sunday, September 23 2012, 5:57PM
“The writer seems to be suggesting that the Bishop and Diocese are diverting money from pastoral care into building and landscaping projects whose only purpose is their own self-aggrandisement.
That's a bit misleading and it's unfair. I expect Bishop Tim, like most of us, would rather sit on a padded chair than a hard wooden stool, but these new facilities aren't for the personal use and enjoyment of the Cathedral hierarchy. The capital projects mentioned - and St Martin's House in particular - are designed to help improve the church's ability to engage with the wider community and provide better, more sustainable long-term pastoral care, rather than the opposite.”
by spalding1944
Saturday, September 22 2012, 8:58AM
“We look after our houses and gardens let the churches with all their wealth look after their own.”