THE charitable status of all English cathedrals doesn’t inoculate their governance against mistakes — however the structured accountability will make them “more resilient and agile” in responding to problems, the chief executive of the Charity Commission, David Holdsworth, has said.
He was giving the address at Southwark Cathedral, on Tuesday of last week, at a service to mark the registration as charities of all 41 Church of England cathedrals.
The Cathedrals Measure 2021 was designed to foster greater transparency in governance and day-to-day operations, by introducing formal accountability to the Charity Commission through the registration of cathedrals as charitable entities.
The project began when Mr Holdsworth was Chief Operating Officer and Registrar on the Commission.
“I’m each impressed, and very happy, that a couple of years later — a mere blink of the attention within the history of cathedrals — we at the moment are celebrating the conclusion of that work, as all 41 cathedrals successfully join the register of charities,” he told the congregation.
This was, he said, a “milestone” within the history of cathedrals in communities and society, and in the event of charity law and practice.
He described the previous “formal exclusion of cathedrals from the family of charity — from registration with the Commission and from accountability for compliance with the principles that apply to all other charities” as “something of an anomaly”.
Speaking of his own experience of cathedrals, Mr Holdsworth said that, growing up in Liverpool within the Eighties, “with very visible sectarian divides, racial divides, and sophistication divides, I saw first-hand the amazing work of the 2 cathedrals and their titular heads”: the then Bishop of Liverpool, the Rt Revd David Sheppard (1975 to 1997), and the RC Archbishop of Liverpool, the Rt Revd Derek Worlock.
“I saw how these great institutions, and, importantly, those who lead them, can construct on what is analogous, not what divides; can create reconciliation, not division. Creating hope and unity across communities. It isn’t an accident that the road that after separated the 2 cathedrals, the 2 faiths, at either end — Hope Street — now connects them.”
Cathedrals, he said, were “not only bricks and mortar” or places of grandeur, worship, musical excellence, and ceremony — they were also people-run organisations, which required accountability to thrive.
This had been the conclusion of the Cathedrals Working Group, first meeting in 2017, he said, when it presented the draft measure to the General Synod. This gained final approval in 2020 (News, 4 December 2020).
“I’m confident that your recent registered-charity status will bring advantages each direct and subtle, including funding and support, and strengthened public trust,” he said.
“But, while registration with the Commission is a hugely vital milestone, it isn’t in itself a destination. Your journey as charities has only just begun. . . Operating as a charity is a long-term commitment that isn’t ‘done’. . . There will likely be mistakes, there will likely be problems. Good governance doesn’t, sadly fully inoculate an organisation against those eventualities.
“But it does — and this I do know from years of experience — make an organisation more resilient and more agile in responding to problems when these arise, and in putting things right.”
