27.04.1995

Doing the Lord’s work

THE CHURCH of England, we are led to believe, has been plunged to the brink of financial ruin after losing £800 million through “naive” property speculation in the 1980s. Not quite. In 1993 its assets were worth £2.4 billion, including a large number of properties with working class tenants.

The Church Commissioners are notorious for neglecting their tenants, claiming priority must be given to ‘poverty-stricken’ clergy. But now a parliamentary select committee of MPs has exposed the true nature of the church’s financial affairs.

The head of its commercial property department at the time was Michael Hutchings. This gentleman had a penchant for large cigars and Chateau Margaux wine, as well as a preference to cross the Atlantic on church business via the QE2.

The select committee reported that one “crazy” scheme to build a mini-town in Kent led to the disappearance of millions. According to The Times, “The Commons committee has been unable to discover how the commissioners spent £80 million before obtaining planning permission” (April 21).

Loyal worshippers, who throw an average of £2.94 onto the collection plate every week, should note that the church paid £52 million in interest in 1991 - just a little less than the £58 million on stipends and pensions for those poverty-stricken clergy.

It is interesting that the eagle-eyed MPs’ committee criticised the church’s property speculation only on the grounds that it was done without “proper expertise or advice”. It is not considered at all improper that funds should be spent on capitalist speculation, rather than the ‘worthy’ charities that millions of working class Christians believe they are supporting with their donations. The Church of England has always been an integral part of the ruling class, and so conducts its affairs primarily according to capitalist rather than Christian morality.

The Communist Party, while completely upholding all rights of religious worship and belief, stands for the confiscation of the obscenely large assets of the church, so that they can be used in the interests of the working class.

Alan Fox