Cathedral Deans from every Anglican cathedral and their MPs will meet to discuss the future financial sustainability of cathedrals in light of new research which reveals more than 80 per cent of them are in financial peril.
The Future Financial Sustainability of Cathedrals to be discussed with MPs
The report, by the religion and society think tank THEOS, Living Stones: English Cathedrals as Sacred Spaces in Changing Times was commissioned by the Association of English Cathedrals for the third National Cathedrals Conference and explores the role of English Anglican cathedrals today.
The National Cathedrals Conference began on 18th May in Bristol Cathedral
The research finds that England’s 42 Anglican cathedrals are among the country’s most significant and treasured institutions, serving as places of worship as well as centres of civic life, community outreach, education, music and the arts.
It notes that 77 per cent of English adults have visited a cathedral in the last three years with 37 per cent visiting more than once in the last year – which if compared to the latest Government statistics, suggests cathedrals attract a comparable share of the public to museums and galleries, and more than those that attend live sporting events.
But it warns that the financial picture is stark.
The research will be shared with MPs when they meet with their representative cathedral deans in Westminster next month.
A conference keynote speaker, Sir Paul Ruddock, who chaired the Government’s First World War Centenary Cathedral Repairs Fund, a £40m scheme to conserve and repair England’s cathedrals ahead of Armistice centenary, told delegates at the conference:
“The cathedrals are doing public work, civic work, that nothing else in the country can do, and they are doing it, almost entirely, at their own expense.’
Another keynote, the historian, writer, and broadcaster, David Olusoga (pictured), told delegates that cathedrals were central to key moments in our national life.
‘They offer deep and growing need to find spaces and stillness and contemplation….they are survivors and witness to the tumult of history.’
But he also warned that the most dangerous assumption that can build around any institution is wealth, adding, ‘the public perception is that cathedrals are lavished with money,’ and acknowledged the stark message in the THEOS research, Living Stones: English Cathedrals as Sacred Spaces in Changing Times.
The Very Revd Jo Kelly-Moore, chair of the Association of English Cathedrals, said,
‘Conserving these Grade I listed buildings, and keeping them open, safe, warm and welcoming brings constant financial pressure—one we must address together.
‘A demonstration of the urgency is seen in the fact that nearly three quarters of cathedrals are experiencing operational deficits at this time.
‘With no government support—and the fact that the Church Commissioners do not have the ability to fund fabric work—the structural funding gap for repairs and maintenance of these national treasures is becoming an ever-greater burden.
‘As we gather together for our third National Cathedrals Conference, this new research is a harsh reminder of our fragility, an opportunity to name and explore the extraordinary potential and presence of our cathedrals, and to confront the very real task of funding that ongoing service to the nation.
‘We are excited to sit down with our Members of Parliament to continue this conversation.’
