AGAINST a background of running costs of £30,000 a day, and an income down by £1 million a 12 months for the reason that pandemic, the Dean of Canterbury, the Very Revd David Monteith, has defended the choice to carry silent discos this month.
Dean Monteith also suggested that there was a “gentle evangelistic dimension” to such events (Comment, 23 February).
A Nineties silent disco was held within the cathedral for 2 nights this month, eliciting criticism from some quarters after footage was shared online. An online petition (“Anglican Deans, stop turning our great cathedrals into nightclubs”) has collected greater than 2600 signatures. It was organised by a Roman Catholic layman, Dr Cajetan Skowronski.
In an essay for The European Conservative last week, Dr Skowronski wrote: “In place of the cross, we now have a DJ elevated with arms outstretched as if in mimicry, towering over the multitude of revellers, who though gathered together, each individually hearken to their pop music via their very own headphones, atomised by technology. ‘Strictly 18+’ and ‘Stocked bar on site for the duration’ stand out in the outline of the event. . .
“We may think that the cathedral structure itself conveys its sacredness, as centuries of prayer and worship have saturated the very stones of which it’s made, which in turn breathe out into the nave. But do they feel it in any serious sense? . . . They are paying for the indisputable fact that they may drink and dance to profane music in a spot not meant for drinking and dancing to profane music.”
Dr Skowronski met Dean Monteith after collecting the signatures, and provided an account of their conversation within the essay. He and a bunch of supporters also prayed by the gates of the cathedral on the night of one in every of the discos, and are planning to repeat their vigil at among the many other silent discos set to happen in Anglican cathedrals in the approaching months, which include Guildford, Chelmsford, Exeter, Ely, Coventry, Sheffield, St Edmundsbury, Llandaff, Manchester, and St Albans.
Another perspective on the controversy was provided by Ben Phillips, a researcher in music, religion, and culture. In an essay for the magazine The Critic last week, he wrote: “Few are discussing why lots of our cathedrals host these events. The reason will not be missiological or ecclesiological; it isn’t about relevance or “community” either. It’s about having the funds to maintain the doors open.”
Canterbury reports, on its website, a deficit of greater than £1 million a 12 months, referring to the cost-of-living crisis, Brexit, and “the long shadow solid by the damage done to the Cathedral’s funds by the Covid-19 pandemic”.
A 2021 report for the Association of English Cathedrals — The Economic and Social Impact of England’s Cathedrals (News, 10 August 2021) — noted that, across the sector, the government-mandated closure of cathedrals through the pandemic resulted in a fall of just about 80 per cent in income generated from the usage of cathedral facilities. Visitor numbers fell by 70 per cent in 2020.
The latest figures from Church House suggest that there have been 4.56 million recorded visitors to cathedrals in 2021: down from almost ten million in 2019 (News, 24 March).
At Canterbury, visitor numbers are down by about 20 per cent compared with before the pandemic, representing an annual lack of income of greater than £1 million. Historically, the cathedral has relied heavily on overseas visitors. This market has been slow to get well for the reason that pandemic, exacerbated by Brexit border-control arrangements, in accordance with its latest annual report. Many language schools were affected by the pandemic, leading to fewer language students. An additional challenge is the associated fee of responding to the Church of England’s 2030 carbon net-zero goal.
The annual report notes that unrestricted free reserves were “heavily depleted” through the pandemic. The Chapter took out a £4-million coronavirus business-interruption loan within the 12 months to 31 March 2021, to assist manage money flow. This now stands at £2.13 million, notwithstanding interest, and repayments of £800,000 a 12 months are required. In 2021, it received a £2-million grant from the Culture Recovery Fund (News, 16 April 2021).
Most of the cathedral’s income comes from property — about £1.5 million p.a. after costs; the opposite key source is admission charges. In an introduction to the annual report, Dean Monteith wrote that reliance on visitor income “must be addressed for future sustainability. . . We will proceed to interact with people and broaden our outreach, putting mission on the forefront of what we do.”
Analysis of the cathedral’s Christmas services suggests that collections generate about £1 per person. This is roughly the similar to ten years ago. High numbers of online views of services (News, 9 April 2021), which numbered 65,000 in December, generate little in income.
In 2023, the cathedral stopped supplying free entry passes to people living within the precincts from the New Year, charging £6 as an alternative (News, 11 November). Adult admission is often £17, while children and students are allowed entry freed from charge.
Among the seven values listed within the annual report are “to encourage ideas and innovation to satisfy the challenges of the twenty first Century and ensure our relevance to the communities we serve”.
“It costs about £12 million to maintain our doors open, before we undertake any major repairs or stewardship of the location,” Dean Monteith said last week. “Our business activities utterly subsidise our worship. We will need a vivid and diverse events programme to be developed, along with our existing income-generation activities, if we’re to survive. This will do three things, all equally necessary and intertwined: we are going to connect with recent audiences, lots of them with none actual or little or no contact with the Church. There is a delicate evangelistic dimension to this.
“We will generate income to support our mission, because most visitors consider the state or the C of E pays for Canterbury Cathedral and never them; [and] we are going to create relationships with our local and wider community, because fund-raising isn’t really about money but about people and their response to healthy relationships that are expansive and inclusive in character.
“We need a each/and approach to understanding the mission of cathedrals as places of worship, witness, and welcome to and for Jesus Christ, and in addition as community places there for the times the community needs us, and as places of connection, commerce, study, prayer, the humanities, food production, and each other aspect that used to characterise the lifetime of a monastery — only in the fashionable day. One side of this permeates the opposite in remarkable and artistic ways.
“It is a conundrum, but I see God at work here daily, and God guarantees provision for his people and for his work. I’m learning that we have to be imaginative about where we now search for support and relationships.”
Many of the country’s 42 Anglican cathedrals have long relied on live shows, lectures, exhibitions, conferences, and festivals to assist to complement funds, and lots of are actually aware of student graduations, Christmas markets, corporate events, and dinosaur displays. The events programme at Canterbury Cathedral is comparatively recent, nonetheless; the silent discos are expected to generate income of between £10,000 to £12,000.
They were organised by Silent Discos in Incredible Places, which has developed partnerships with plenty of other cathedrals, including St Albans, which reports that tickets for its event sold out in an hour. Its Dean, the Very Revd Jo Kelly-Moore, who chairs the Association of English Cathedrals, said last week week that cathedrals “hold a lot of the social, religious, and political history of our country, while at all times being open and free for worship, solace, prayer, and hope. We offer creative encounters with God through being open to go to daily, through our every day rhythm of prayer and services, the humanities, and other special events.”
All cathedrals needed to “construct an economy around us to be sustainable”, she said, referring to running costs of £6000 a day at St Albans.
While attention at Canterbury has focused on the silent disco and on a residential four-day Lent retreat, costing £950 a head, most of the cathedral’s upcoming events are freed from charge, including half-term activities, monthly “singing for well-being” sessions, an organ recital, and “floragami bouquet-making” in its recent community studio — one in every of the outcomes of a nine-year development project costing £34.5 million: the “Canterbury Journey”. A recent visitor centre and shop have also been established.
Financial challenges within the sector are exacerbated by the lack of English Heritage’s dedicated grants for cathedral repairs, which led to 2010. Canterbury will not be alone in reporting a deficit: a recent inspection at Guildford identified a necessity for repairs costing a complete of £4.4 million through the next five to 10 years (News, 14 April 2023). The Dean there reported that reserves had fallen to below £300,000, which is lower than six months’ projected cathedral expenditure.
The disparity in cathedrals’ assets was highlighted in a report back to the General Synod last 12 months (News, 1 December 2023).
