Thousands visit historic churches and cathedrals; Scottish Episcopal bishop on the “Bedroom Tax”; Pope Francis’ Task – C of E Bishop
Thousands visit historic churches and cathedrals
St Paul’s Cathedral, Westminster Abbey and Canterbury Cathedral are again among the top visitor attractions in the UK, according to the latest statistics from the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions (AVLA).
The 4,500,000 visitors to those three famous churches are only part of the numbers visiting more than 16,000 Church of England buildings across England, many of whose figures are not included in AVLA figures.
York Minster attracts more than 490,000 visitors annually, while Durham Cathedral welcomes 600,000 visitors each year and Bath Abbey alone would make the top 50 attractions, welcoming 420,000 visitors a year.
Cathedrals are at the forefront of worshipping churches that generate at least £350 million a year towards the tourism economy. The Association of English Cathedrals and English Heritage have estimated that visitors to cathedrals alone generate £91 million in spend and directly support 2,800 jobs
“The Church of England’s 12,500 listed cathedrals and church buildings comprise unparalleled glories and a history of architecture,” said Janet Gough, Director of Church and Cathedral Buildings for the Church of England. “They tell stories of kings, battles and wars, of brave men and women and of everyday life. These church buildings also contain a vast array of treasures from medieval wall paintings to original copies of the Magna Carta to beautifully crafted monuments and stained glass windows.
“Worship and mission is the primary concern of the Church of England. Its historic and contemporary churches are in regular use for worship and their positive use as centres for the community, for visiting and as a silent presence to witness to faith are all part of its worship and mission.”
Approximately 11.3 million people – more than a quarter (27%) of England’s adult population – say that they have been to a Church of England cathedral in the last 12 months, according to the Theos think-tank (Spiritual Capital, September 2012). These figures exclude visitors and tourists from overseas who visit Church buildings.
Successive surveys since 2000 have shown that 85% of people in Britain visit a church building in any one year for many reasons apart from services of worship. Weddings, funerals, school services, concerts and special events attract people to these centres of community life. Educational events, alone, in CofE churches and cathedrals attract up to 300,000 visits a year.
Notes
• 85% of all Listed Places of Worship are Church of England churches.
• The Church of England’s cathedrals and church buildings together form the nation’s single largest ‘estate’ of built heritage. Of 16,000 CofE church buildings, 4,200 are Listed Grade I – 45% of all secular or religious buildings listed at this grade – and 8,000 are Listed Grade II* or II.
• In 2011, St Paul’s attracted the tenth most visitors at 1,789,974. Westminster Abbey is twelfth in the list at 1,776,369, with Canterbury Cathedral attracting 969,088 visitors at number 28. http://www.alva.org.uk/details.cfm?p=423
Scottish Episcopal bishop on the “Bedroom Tax”
Writing for The Inverness Courier, The Rt Rev Mark Strange, Bishop of Moray, Ross & Caithness has highlighted what he feels are the injustices of the proposed ‘Bedroom Tax’, and says:
“The Church is working its way through Lent. Lent is a season in which we try to find more time for prayer and worship, a time to put aside some luxuries and to take up extra responsibilities.
“During Lent I stop whatever I am doing at 9.30pm and say the office of Compline – Night Prayer – and then pray for the life and work of the churches of the diocese. As bishop I have oversight and care for them all and of course that is why my particular church, the Cathedral, is also called the Mother Church of the diocese.
“That prayer for widely scattered communities finds special focus on Mothering Sunday, the mid- point of Lent, when we spiritually gather under one roof – the Church together as family. That day is also the day many of us visit or contact our own mothers, and even I might manage across the firth to have a cup of tea with my mum!
“Sadly there will be a number of people in our communities who might not be able to offer hospitality to their families this time next year, when the proposed Bedroom tax will change the life of many in the highlands. Anyone in receipt of benefit will lose some of it if they have a spare bedroom in their home. This has caused me to reflect on the generations of highland families who have seen their children leave their villages for education or work, young people forced to leave because there is little to keep them but who came home for holidays and for a brief time brought life and laughter back into their communities – they may now find that there is no space for them in the family home.
“That then caused me to reflect further upon the nature of the communities I serve; there is no extra social housing in the area, certainly not many with only one bedroom, so not only will the home-comers have no bedroom to use, their families may have had to leave the village or town of their birth. The alternative is to receive less benefit. Surely an injustice when things are already so hard for so many of the poorest and most vulnerable in our society?
“The proposed Bedroom Tax seems both unjust and unfair – it might work in larger and more densely populated places, but will only bring extra worry and hardship to those already struggling in our communities. If we want people to live in smaller units then we will need to build smaller units, otherwise we must watch as once again our rural communities lose those who most need the care of friends around them.”
Pope Francis’ Task – C of E Bishop
A statement from the Bishop of Guildford, the Rt Rev Christopher Hill, Chairman of the Council for Christian Unity and a member of the Anglican Roman Catholic International Commission.
As part of a wider Anglican Communion delegation, I shall be privileged to be present in Rome for the Inauguration of the ministry of Pope Francis 1st.
Until the conclave, Cardinal Bergoglio was the Archbishop of one of the major cities of the developing world. His reputation for pastoral care and simplicity (following St Francis) as well as his concern for economic justice will endear him to Anglicans throughout the world, not least our own Archbishop Justin.
Even at the announcement of his election, his ‘Buona Sera’ (Good evening!) to the crowds in St Peter’s Square spoke of a different style of Papacy. This reinforces the inevitably different ethos which will emerge in the Papacy with Pope Benedict’s radical decision to retire.
I was also impressed by the stress on his being ‘Bishop of Rome’ which emerged in just those few first spontaneous words: ‘You know that the duty of the conclave was to give a bishop to Rome. It seems that my brother cardinals went almost to the end of the world to get him. But here we are.’
This is not only a pastoral stress. It is also a fundamental theological principle. The universal Primate, whom some Anglicans and many other Christians are beginning to recognise, is still the bishop of a local church, a bishop of the Church, not a single bishop over the Church.
But the task before Pope Francis is immense. All Christians should pray for him. I shall be praying for him in Rome at his installation on Tuesday, 19th, as I shall be praying for Archbishop Justin, with his enormous responsibilities, at his Installation on Thursday, 21 March in Canterbury Cathedral.