THE parochial system is the best way of paying for the maintenance and repair of church buildings. The Dean, the Very Rev. Canon Paul Mellor, said it was sustainable, despite an impending cash crisis in Torteval.
‘At times churches demand major projects but they come periodically and are not constant. I believe there may be ways of phasing work so as to make the system sustainable without excessive demands on the rates,’ he said.
‘I think it would be worthwhile for everybody concerned to review all the options but my suspicion is that, having looked at the problem from every angle, the Guernsey system as it operates presently would win hands down.’
He believed that it would be a mistake to move away from it.
‘I think the system in Guernsey for the repair and maintenance of historic ecclesiastical heritage is one of the most efficient and elegant that I have ever encountered,’ he said.
‘It is efficient in that every penny that is raised through the rate for ecclesiastical needs goes to pay for the building work. In other places, because of quite complex bureaucratic arrangements, that is not always the case.’
He added that compared to the UK, rates were relatively modest in Guernsey and that after a period of increase, they would go down once work was completed.
‘The system here also places control firmly at a very local level. It is parishioners who own the church building and, through their vote at the annual parish meeting, they, rather than bureaucrats, exercise control.
‘Any other system would dilute that control and I think would be resented by the constables, the douzaines and the people. It is a major feature of the Guernsey system that local parochial control stays in the hands of citizens.’
Mr Mellor said that as parishioners owned the building and therefore paid for its upkeep, they also had use of it.
‘The church buildings here, unlike in the UK, belong to the parish as a whole rather than to ecclesiastical authorities. They are not one-denominational buildings.
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‘It is true that the primary aim is to be used for religious purposes but they are also community buildings and are used in partnership with the rectors and churchwardens and the people for many other purposes.’
He said that the Town Church held events such as Eisteddfod classes and musical concerts. Lectures and other presentations were a regular part of its programme.
‘The church buildings represent an important and unique part of the whole island’s heritage, open to all, usable by all and so maintained by all.’
He said the Church of England buildings - as the established church - were like public services, even if not everybody used them.
The Dean added he appreciated that other denominations had been forced to close buildings because they could not get enough funding but said that rather than cutting that given to the Church of England, maybe aid should be extended to all churches or listed structures.
Article posted on 13th August, 2004 - 12.00am
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