Pews at church can be removed to allow Muslim events

A CHURCH has been allowed to remove its pews in order to cater for local Muslim community events.

St Thomas Werneth, in Oldham, near Manchester, has been given permission to remove the seating to allow it to hold more events with the wider community, which is “broadly Muslim”, the chancellor of the Diocese of Manchester said. In a ruling made last month, Geoffrey Tattershall QC said that the church would be allowed to remove the seating because the proposals would have “major public benefit outweighing any harm resulting from the loss of the pews”.

The 19th-century church is the only one in the parish and is in an area which is 88 per cent non-white British.

“Its continuing presence is important in enabling social cohesion and contact between local Muslims and Christians,” the chancellor said.

“The purpose of the re-ordering of the church is to open up the church for community use, as part of its service and mission to the mainly Muslim community in the parish and to enable the wider community to share its heritage.”

The plan was backed by the Venerable Cherry Vann, the archdeacon of Rochdale, who said there was “significant inter-faith work” in the area. “Moreover there is clearly some goodwill towards the church in the largely Muslim community in Werneth and it is important that the church has the flexibility and capacity to exercise a ministry of hospitality to those living in the parish through a variety of communitybased activities,” she said.

The Victorian Society raised concerns about the plans, which it said would be “damaging” to the Grade Iilisted church.