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ENGLAND: Dioceses face axe in financial crisis
By Jonathan Petre, Religion Correspondent
THE TELEGRAPH
11/17/2005)
The Church of England could axe a number of its dioceses and bishoprics as a result of radical reforms given preliminary approval by the General Synod yesterday.
Under the proposed legislation, a national body would be given powers to recommend the closure or reorganisation of dioceses and the scrapping of suffragan or assistant bishop posts.
Many parts of the Church are already shedding staff to offset a growing financial crisis but critics complain that it is almost impossible to get rid of dioceses or episcopal posts.
While spokesmen stressed that there were no immediate plans to reorganise dioceses, the proposals were praised as "breathtaking" by the Bishop of Exeter, the Rt Rev Michael Langrish, who opened the debate.
Each of the 44 dioceses has its own costly bureaucracy and pressure is growing for some to be merged or scrapped to encourage the better use of Church resources for mission.
Some believe that there are too many dioceses in the North of England and smaller areas such as Portsmouth are also vulnerable.
Moreover, while church attendance has declined and full-time clergy are in shorter supply, the number of suffragan and area bishops has increased. Most dioceses have at least one "junior" bishop and many have more.
However, the prospect of cuts will be resisted by many in the Church's hierarchy, who are fiercely protective of their territories and who feel that the burdens on bishops would become intolerable if their numbers were reduced.
Under current legislation, only the dioceses themselves can suggest revisions and they have proved reluctant to sacrifice themselves.
Under the new draft law, which will now be referred to the revision committee, the newly empowered Diocesan Commission could initiate reorganisations or cuts.
In some cases, the body could freeze the appointment of a new bishop until it had investigated the viability of the diocese.
In others, it could even create new dioceses from very large ones, or appoint suffragan bishops to work for more than one diocese. The body's recommendations would be voted on by the General Synod.
In a separate debate last night, the Synod voted to end the traditional "freehold" rights of some clergy over their homes but rejected moves to vest the buildings in diocesan boards of finance.
Synod members instead decided to transfer ownership of parsonages to the more independent diocesan parsonage boards but to keep churches and churchyards in the ownership of parishes.
Speakers expressed fears that diocesan boards of finance could otherwise be tempted to sell vicarages to raise money for their cash-strapped dioceses.
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