Where the Church of England’s money goes

sir – The bishops’ claim (Letters, November 2) that the Church Commissioners will distribute £900 million to support the Church’s work over three years is tendentious.

Of that huge sum, £360 million will pay for clergy pensions accrued before 1998; £230 million will go to supporting dioceses, which are ever-growing bureaucracies;

£115 million is for the ministry of 114 archbishops and bishops; £65 million is for training ordinands and curates, and £40 million goes towards supporting cathedrals.

This leaves £30 million a year to spread across the Church of England’s 18,000 benefices – £1,700 each. This does not go far towards finding the average £60,000 annual parish share. Len Palfrey

Pangbourne, Berkshire

sir – Our church has had no roof now for nearly two years as a consequence of the lead being stolen.

As a small rural parish, our finances would not stretch to the cost of the roof alarm system (£4,500) required for the full insurance cover, while paying to Salisbury diocese our parish share of £6,000, together with the ever-increasing maintenance costs.

Had the Church Commissioners taken back their responsibility to pay clergy stipends and pensions (Letters, October 27), we could have purchased the roof alarm system – and we would not have the burden of raising the cost of the repair, or to put up with a flapping tarpaulin during services. David Ennals

Toller Porcorum, Dorset

sir – I served as treasurer to our two village churches for 21 years.

In the late Nineties, the diocese sold our village vicarage for around £125,000. Although this had been built in the 1870s by public subscriptions from our High Peak village, we received not a penny of the proceeds. To add insult to injury, we then had to pay £2,000 to the diocese to buy back part of the vicarage garden to use as our church car park.

Caroline Rofer

High Peak, Derbyshire