CHICHESTER diocese has created a restricted fund into which parish congregations that oppose the introduction of blessings for same-sex couples will pay their parish share.
The existence of the fund was discovered though financial documents that show the balance of parish share owed by each parish within the diocese. The document lists those whose 2023 payments have been made to “restricted fund RF46”.
The creation of the fund was not made public, and several other clergy contacted within the diocese appeared to not learn about it; but its existence was confirmed by a spokesperson for the diocese in response to enquiries from the Church Times.
In an announcement, they said: “The Bishop’s Council approved the creation of a time-limited restricted fund to enable parishes who had paused parish-share contributions following General Synod’s decisions regarding Prayers of Love and Faith to proceed to contribute.
“As a result we now have no parishes who’re withholding share, and all parishes are contributing to fund a wider household of religion. The fund supports the prices of providing ministry in those parishes that are known to carry conservative/traditional convictions on marriage.”
Eight churches are identified within the financial document as contributing to RF46, and a minimum of yet one more has since joined the scheme; All Saints’, Lindfield, shouldn’t be listed within the document, but a January edition of the parish newsletter shows that the PCC had voted to utilize the fund.
The newsletter, seemingly quoting from a diocesan communication, says: “It allows parishes to proceed giving their financial share to the diocese, while restricting using that share to ‘support the prices of providing ministry in those parishes who’re affiliated to a network known to carry conservative/traditional convictions on marriage’.”
All Saints’ was approached for comment, as were all of the churches identified within the document, but all declined to reply questions on the fund.
The churches listed are: All Souls’, Eastbourne; All Saints’, Eastbourne; Holy Trinity, Eastbourne; St Mary’s, Hailsham; Chanctonbury Benefice; Emmanuel Church, Hastings; All Saints’, Crowborough; and Bishop Hannington Memorial Church, Hove.
AlamyAll Saints’, Lindfield
Including Lindfield, the combined parish share of those churches in 2023 amounted to only over £770,000 — roughly five-and-a-half per cent of the full received by the diocese.
All the churches discover themselves as Evangelical, although a Lindfield newsletter suggests that the fund will support “quite a breadth of conservative, charismatic and catholic groups”.
The move pre-empts any decision by the House of Bishops or the General Synod to agree any form of formal distinction between parishes on different sides of the sexuality debate.
The Church Times understands that the Chichester fund was established shortly after the vote within the General Synod last November, when it was confirmed that the Prayers of Love and Faith can be commended to be used (News, 15 November 2023).
At in regards to the same time, the Church of England Evangelical Council (CEEC) announced the creation of a recent national fund, the Ephesian Fund, into which individuals and parishes that opposed the introduction of the prayers could pay.
The CEEC statement said: “Our hope and prayer is that these temporary provisions will enable orthodox evangelicals to stay within the Church of England whilst we seek a everlasting and structural settlement to secure orthodox life and witness going forward.”
The Chichester fund appears to be designed to encourage parishes to proceed paying to the diocese reasonably than to utilize alternatives equivalent to the Ephesian Fund.
Chichester is the primary diocese to launch such a fund, however the Church Times understands that a minimum of one other diocese is considering an analogous scheme.
