THE ending of the requirement for ratepayers in Guernsey to fund rectories can have “significant implications” for clergy and their families, the Dean of Guernsey, the Very Revd Tim Barker, has warned.
On Wednesday of last week, the Guernsey States Assembly’s deputies voted by a two-thirds majority for an amendment to the Parochial Church Property (Guernsey) Law 2015, stating that any customary duty on parishes to offer suitable accommodation for his or her rector and rector’s household needs to be abolished in January 2030, the Guernsey Press reported. An earlier amendment gave an extended timeframe of ten years.
In an explanatory note attached to his proposal, Deputy Christopher Le Tissier described the requirement as “an anachronism”. “Many islanders . . . usually are not all followers of the Church of England, and a few maintain beliefs in other faiths. In fact, there’s a growing number that follow no faith in any respect. For these people, the necessity to contribute financially to the accommodation for rectors from the Church of England faith is taken into account plainly inequitable.” In some cases, a whole bunch of hundreds of kilos may be required to take care of the parish rectory, he wrote.
Dean Barker said last week that he respected the “clear resolution of the States”, but warned that there can be “significant implications, primarily for the clergy and their families who will likely be directly affected by the choice but in addition for the Deanery of Guernsey and the work and ministry of our churches, especially within the more rural parishes . . .
“We must work fastidiously with the parishes and others to think about the implications of the States resolution and what happens next.”
There are 16 churches in Guernsey, across 14 parishes, as well as to 1 each in Alderney and Sark. Ratepayers are answerable for the external maintenance of the churches of the ten ancient parishes in Guernsey.
Detailed legislative changes can have to be approved by the following States Assembly before the reforms come into effect, the Guernsey Press reports.
