Church Commissioners The hon. Member for South West Bedfordshire,
representing the Church Commissioners, was asked— Holy Land:
Desecration of Religious Sites Tim Loughton (East Worthing and
Shoreham) (Con) 1. What discussions the Church of England has had
with international counterparts on the desecration of religious
sites in the Holy Land. Sir Desmond Swayne (New Forest West) (Con)
4. What discussions the Church of England has had with
international...Request free trial
Church
Commissioners
The hon. Member for South West Bedfordshire, representing the
Church Commissioners, was asked—
Holy Land: Desecration of Religious Sites
(East Worthing and Shoreham) (Con)
1. What discussions the Church of England has had with
international counterparts on the desecration of religious sites
in the Holy Land.
(New Forest West) (Con)
4. What discussions the Church of England has had with
international counterparts on the desecration of religious sites
in the Holy Land.
The Second Church Estates Commissioner ()
In the first three months of this year, seven cases of serious
vandalism and antisocial behaviour against churches have been
recorded in Israel. That is a sharp increase on the previous
year. The Church of England continues to work with the Anglican
Archbishop of Jerusalem, the heads of other Churches, other faith
leaders and the Jordanian Government, as custodian of the holy
sites, to maintain the peace.
It was particularly galling to see these scenes in what is
supposed to be a liberal democracy in the middle east: the
desecration of Christian graves and other Christian
sites—something that, I am afraid, we have become used to in
other countries. These were effectively religious terrorists and
extremists, with no regard for the Christian religion. What
measures are taking place to ensure that, in future, Christians
can celebrate the Easter fire ceremony at the Church of the Holy
Sepulchre in Jerusalem without facing undue restrictions as a
result of the fear of violent clashes?
I am grateful to my hon. Friend, who is right to draw attention
to the Easter fire ceremony at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
That 2,000-year-old ceremony has repeatedly taken place without
serious incident. It is certainly our view that the restrictions
have been overly heavy-handed. As he will know, the has called out
what has been happening—the attacks on Christian graves and so on
—as blasphemous attacks. The UK Chief Rabbi has also spoken out,
as we need to do across the House. I hope the Foreign Office will
have similar things to say.
Last Thursday, the Minister of State at the Foreign, Commonwealth
and Development Office, my right hon. Friend the Member for
Sutton Coldfield (Mr Mitchell), came here and announced a
strategic partnership with the Government of Israel. That ought
to give us some influence over the level of vandalism and
antisocial behaviour to which churchgoers are being subjected,
oughtn’t it?
As always, my right hon. Friend makes an important point. He may
have seen that over Easter the Latin Patriarch said:
“The frequency of these attacks, the aggressions, has become
something new. These people feel they are protected…that the
cultural and political atmosphere now can justify, or tolerate,
actions against Christians.”
Attacks are simply not acceptable, whether against Christians or
people of any other faith or no faith. I hope that what my right
hon. Friend has said, as a distinguished former International
Development Minister, will be heard loudly and clearly at the
Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.
Christians in Nigeria
(Congleton) (Con)
2. What discussions the Church of England has had with the Church
of Nigeria on the killing and abduction of Christians in that
country.
I am grateful to my hon. Friend, who is also the Prime Minister’s
special envoy on freedom of religion or belief, for the service
she does in bringing this appalling issue back before the House.
Since the matter was last raised with me on 9 March there have
been further atrocities against Christians in Nigeria, and the
issue does not get enough attention in our media, which is why I
am extremely grateful to her for raising it. The met the candidates
in the presidential election, and stressed the need to prioritise
ending inter-community and inter-religious violence, and we will
continue to speak out.
Open Doors reports that on Good Friday
“32 Christians were killed…in an attack by suspected Fulani
militants on an IDP camp in Benue State…while people were
asleep”,
and that the camp
“houses nearly 30,000…mostly Christians, mainly women and
children, who…fled their villages because of Fulani militant
attacks.”
Open Doors described this as part of a number of “widespread
attacks” across the state, including an attack on a church in
Akenawe village on Palm Sunday, when a boy was killed and three
people, including the pastor, kidnapped. Does my hon. Friend
agree that stronger measures are needed to protect such
vulnerable communities in Nigeria? What can the Church do to call
this out?
Frankly, words are a rather inadequate response to what we have
just heard, but we must not tire of raising our voices with
Nigeria, which is, after all, a Commonwealth country with which
we have very good relations. As a good friend to Nigeria, I would
expect our distress to be heard loudly and clearly. The Foreign
Office obviously needs to keep on passing on the message.
(Strangford) (DUP)
May I take this opportunity to wish the Church Commissioner a
very happy birthday? He, like me, does not count the years but
makes the years count; we’re at that age!
Further to the question of the hon. Member for Congleton (), there are missionaries from
the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in
Nigeria, including some from my constituency and across all of
Northern Ireland. What discussions have taken place to ensure
that support is available for ex-pat and United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Northern Ireland missionaries in the regions we are
discussing who are isolated and may be in a vulnerable
position?
I thank the hon. Member for raising this issue, for his continued
interest in it and for the magnificent work he does chairing the
all-party parliamentary group for international freedom of
religion or belief. The was recently in
Nigeria, speaking out on behalf of all Christians, not just
members of the Anglican communion, in Nigeria. The Church of
England will keep on engaging in this issue—sometimes quietly,
sometimes behind the scenes, but we will continue to speak truth
to power.
Grant Funding from Local Authorities
(North Devon) (Con)
5. How the Church of England plans to spend grant funding from
local authorities.
(Broadland) (Con)
9. How the Church of England plans to spend grant funding from
local authorities.
The Second Church Estates Commissioner ()
Grants that would cover kitchens, loos or disability access,
basic repairs to rooves and windows and so on are in many cases
unavailable to Church of England parish churches because of an
inconsistency in the way in which local authorities are applying
the law, and the has tabled an amendment
to the Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill to resolve this so that
parish churches can apply for such grants, and I hope the
Department will be supportive of it.
I recently visited Meshaw Together near South Molton to discuss
plans for its local church, St John the Baptist, reordering the
church for wider community use. The project led by Jeff Souch and
supported by the vicar was unsuccessful in securing platinum
jubilee funding, but might I be able to meet with my hon. Friend
to try to find additional funding that may be available for this
community initiative that also secures the future of the
church?
Yes, of course I will meet with my hon. Friend. I have also heard
of the good work of St John the Baptist, Meshaw. The Church
Commissioners have given £11 million over the next three years to
fund specialist support officers to advise on community projects
of this nature and to help with fundraising. Small grants are
available to help with repairs and towards buildings becoming net
zero. Parishresources.org.uk may also provide helpful
information. The Exeter diocese recently held a “meet the
funders” day, to which more than 100 people turned up, to learn
how churches such as St John the Baptist can approach funders
such as the Benefact Trust. I encourage Meshaw to follow that
up.
My hon. Friend has made reference to the speech of the in the other place
highlighting an apparent inconsistency between the Local
Government Act 1972 and the 1894 Act, which gives cause for
concern as to whether local government funding for Church
buildings is legal. Does my hon. Friend recognise that as a
serious concern, and if so how does he propose to clarify the
issue?
My hon. Friend is right about the , whose amendments in the
other place have the support of heritage bodies and the National
Association of Local Councils, whom I have also met on the issue.
All we are asking is for Church of England parish churches to be
treated the same as other faith and community buildings, which
does not seem a lot to ask for, and I would hope that both my
hon. Friend the Member for Redditch (), and the Whip, my hon.
Friend the Member for Dudley South (), are listening hard to what I
have said and representations will be made to Ministers about
these issues.
Parish Ministry
(Cleethorpes) (Con)
6. What steps the Church of England is taking to strengthen its
parish ministry.
Parish ministry is at the heart of everything we do in the Church
of England. Between 2023 and 2025, to support our mission to tell
people the good news about Jesus Christ, we will distribute £1.2
billion—a 30% increase. The largest part of that funding will be
used to revitalise parish ministry.
My hon. Friend will be well aware of concerns in congregations up
and down the country about the diminishing number of priests.
Will he assure the House that the Church will continue to do all
it can to provide funds for the stipendiary ministries?
There has been an increase in the number of ordinands between
2016 and 2020, when we had 1,373 in total, including 591 starting
training, which was the largest in a generation. There was a
slight dip during the pandemic, but we are committed to
continuing to train more priests; that is absolutely essential
and is exactly what the Church of England wants to see.
Trees
(Kettering) (Con)
7. Whether the Church of England is taking steps to plant more
trees on its land.
Since 2014, the Church Commissioners have planted 819 acres of
new woodland in the UK. Over the last two years we have bought
438 more acres in south Wales and Angus in Scotland, to plant
350,000 more trees, subject to planning permission. Over the last
five years we have planted 11.8 million trees globally.
Mr Hollobone
That is great news for Scotland, Wales and the rest of the world,
but what about England’s green and pleasant land? England has, at
10%, the lowest tree coverage in Europe, so can we have more
church trees, please, in England?
My hon. Friend speaks so well, not only for Kettering
but for England. He is right to draw attention to the fact that
England is among the countries with the least tree cover in
Europe. The Church absolutely wants to play its part in changing
that. To help achieve that, it participated in the Queen’s green
canopy initiative, including through work on an 8,000 mixed-tree
plantation in north-west England. We also work with farming
tenants across England to explore every possible planting
opportunity, including planting trees in hedgerows, agri-
forestry and field-scale woodland planting, and will carry on
doing so.
Coronation
(Lichfield) (Con)
10. What steps the Church of England plans to take to mark the
coronation of His Majesty King Charles III in (a) cathedrals and
(b) other places of worship outside of London; and if he will
make a statement.
The Second Church Estates Commissioner ()
There will be services and events all over the country in
cathedrals and parish churches to celebrate the coronation. The
one in Lichfield cathedral will be on Sunday 7 May, and I am sure
that my hon. Friend will attend if he possibly can.
My hon. Friend has put me on the spot, but I confirm that I will
attend. I hope that reassures him. Could he quickly—or even
slowly—outline what further work the Church of England is doing
to engage people locally in the coronation?
I can reassure my hon. Friend that the Church is doing a great
deal in that area. We are supporting the Big Help Out to promote
volunteering, along with many charities and businesses, as well
as the Big Lunch to break down barriers and combat loneliness. We
also have Sing for the King and Ring for the King to promote
choral singing and bell ringing, linked to the coronation.
[Interruption.]
Mr Speaker
You may well like campanology, Mr Fabricant, but I will leave
that there.
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