Fund to redress Church ‘sins’

THE Archbishop of Canterbury has defended the establishment of a £100million fund to “address past wrongs of slavery” during a time of financial crisis among parishes.

The Church Commissioners, who handle more than £10billion of assets for the Church of England, announced their pledge for a new fund yesterday after the publication of a report which revealed that much of the institution’s wealth originates from the transatlantic slave trade.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev Justin Welby, acknowledged that the £100million injection comes amid mounting concern over parishes’ “stretched” finances, but insisted that “it is now time to take action to address our shameful past”.

He made the comments after The

Daily Telegraph revealed in 2020 that countryside parishes were facing multimillion pound debt and struggling to pay their vicars, as clergy and laypeople voiced their fears over the “collapse” of the Church of England in rural communities.

After the fund was announced, parishioners and clergy criticised the Archbishop for “suddenly” having “around £100million behind the back of the sofa” when vicars were losing their jobs and parishes were being merged.

However, the Church Commissioners said that it was vital to redress the “shameful and horrific sin” of exploiting and owning human lives for profit.

They added that the money would pay for a programme of investment, research and engagement and that this would include funding to support “communities affected by historic slavery” as well as funding to pay for

further research into dioceses’, cathedrals’ and parishes’ historic links with slavery. The Church’s endowment fund can be traced back to 1704 when Queen Anne’s Bounty was established to help support impoverished clergy. These funds were subsumed into the Church Commissioners’ endowment when it was created in 1948.

Last year, the Church announced for the first time – “and with great dismay” – that the Bounty had invested significant amounts of its funds in the South Sea Company, which was founded in 1711 and shipped enslaved people from Africa across the Atlantic.

The report estimated that the South Sea Company transported 34,000 slaves “in crowded, unsanitary, unsafe and inhumane conditions” during its 30 years of operation. The Archbishop said: “I am deeply sorry for these links. It is now time to address our shameful past.”

Rev Marcus Walker, founder of the Save The Parish (STP) campaign group, said: “Suddenly the Church has money. After decades of telling us that there is no money to fund the churches and priests who keep the Church alive on the front line, suddenly they’ve found £100million behind the back of the sofa. Only last year they told us they couldn’t afford to fund the £12million which would have cleared all the deficits run up by churches which were caused by Covid, or the £24million which would clear the deficits in dioceses. How can the Church have the brass neck ever to ask for another penny from its parishes again?”

In May, archbishops admitted that they “got it wrong” by not prioritising rural parishes over city churches, as they announced new funding worth £3.6billion, with a significant proportion to be channelled into the “revitalisation of parish and local ministry”.

However, STP campaigners described this as “a promise we don’t really believe”, adding: “Show us the money.”