‘If cathedrals were to fail – and it is much closer to midnight than many think – the loss would not be borne by the Church alone, but by towns, cities, schools, communities, local economies, and the country as a whole.
The question is not whether cathedrals matter; the evidence has been saying that for years. The question is whether we will act in time and recognise that what they hold in trust is not the Church’s responsibility alone, but the nation’s as a whole.‘
George Lapshynov, co-author of new report, Living Stones: English Cathedrals as Sacred Spaces in Changing Times.
MPs and Deans form a Parliamentary Network of Cathedral Cities To Make A Sustained Appeal To Govt For Funding Support
Cathedral Deans and their constituency MPs met in Westminster to set in motion a parliamentary network of Cathedral Cities to better press their case for an endowment fund to plug a strategic funding deficit.
They urged their MPs – many of whom were present – to propose a motion for debate in Parliament on the value of cathedrals to the nation and asked that the Government call on the Church of England to meet its obligations to cathedrals whose historic assets the Church Commissioners now control.
For many months the Deans of Canterbury, Chester, Peterborough, Salisbury, St Albans, and York have met with their local MPs to address cathedrals’ urgent financial need.
The reception, convened by the Association of English Cathedrals, was a culmination of those meetings and an opportunity to forge an alliance to press their case to Government for substantial and sustained public investment in the fabric of cathedrals in collaboration with the national church and the private sector – and urge their MPs to be their allies and their advocates.
The meeting shared three pieces of new independent research. The first, a report by the religion and society think tank, THEOS, Living Stones: English Cathedrals as Sacred Spaces in Changing Times explores the role of English Anglican cathedrals today and found that they are amongst the country’s most significant and treasured institutions, serving as vibrant centres of civic life, community outreach, education, learning and music as well as places of worship visited by 74% of adults in England in the last three years and generating £235m additional expenditure for the economy. But the research also warned that the financial picture was stark with 80 per cent in financial peril.
THEOS researcher, George Lapshynov, co-author of the report, told MPs,
‘Government should recognise that supporting cathedrals is not subsidising a private interest but investing in civic infrastructure.
‘These are institutions already doing public work in place-making, heritage, education and local regeneration.
‘If that work is valued, and if our government and the Honourable Members of this House want them to go on delivering the social goods they so often commend, it should be matched by practical commitment and resource.
‘If cathedrals were to fail – and it is much closer to midnight than many think – the loss would not be borne by the Church alone, but by towns, cities, schools, communities, local economies, and the country as a whole.
‘The question is not whether cathedrals matter; the evidence has been saying that for years. The question is whether we will act in time and recognise that what they hold in trust is not the Church’s responsibility alone, but the nation’s as a whole.’
Further research from Will Watt from State of Life told MPs about the vital and measurable contribution that cathedrals make towards the health and wellbeing of people and society and that an estimator tool – similar to that used by churches for the House of Good report – will be available for cathedrals in early autumn. This will demonstrate the economic contribution that Cathedral’s make to the nation over and above that to the visitor economy calculated by Theos.
And Ross McWhirr from the Church of England shared research that has identified a structural deficit that cathedrals cannot bridge and which is eating away at their limited reserves and storing up problems for future generations.
The Dean of Chester, who chairs the College of Deans, told the meeting,
‘We are seeking the support of our MPs for a call on the Church Commissioners to assist Cathedrals from this historic cathedral assets they hold; and for an appeal to Government for sustained and substantial public investment, creating an endowment that will restore and maintain the historic fabric of England’s cathedrals; and, to back a national philanthropic ask.
‘We have reliable and independent evidence that cathedrals are centres of civic life, beneficial to public health and cohesion, net contributors to the local economy, carriers of national history and containers of nationally important treasures.
They are the property of the nation, not just of one Christian denomination, and they are at risk.’
