CATHEDRAL deans are to meet MPs next month to discuss the financial sustainability of cathedrals in light of the Theos report, it was announced at the National Cathedrals Conference on Tuesday.
Sir Paul Ruddock, who chaired the Government’s First World War Centenary Cathedral Repairs Fund, a £40-million conservation scheme tied to the Armistice centenary, told delegates that it was a mistake to assume that cathedrals would always be there, in spite of their popularity with visitors.
“Last year, some ten million visits were paid to the 42 Anglican cathedrals of England. That is similar to the British Museum and Tate Modern combined. It is several times the gate at Wembley, Twickenham and Lord’s combined,” he said.
“They are, simultaneously, among the most visited tourist attractions in England and the largest free, 12-hour-a-day public spaces in their cities. They are, I think, the only buildings in this country which combine, on the same site and often on the same day, a service of eucharist, a meeting of the local council, a graduation ceremony, a homeless drop-in, a chamber concert, a bell-ringers’ practice, a school carol service, and a quiet visitor sitting alone at the back of the nave, having, perhaps, the most important conversation of their life.”
Cathedrals were doing “public work, civic work, that nothing else in the country can do”, almost entirely at their own expense, he said.
“None of us alive paid for them — none of us alive built them. The question, in our generation, is whether we will leave them in a state at least as good as that in which we found them.
“I think we will,” he concluded. “I do not believe that a country whose cathedrals are loved by such people is in any imminent danger of letting them go. But love is not enough. Love must, at some point, take out its chequebook. Love must lobby the Government. Love must serve on the fabric committee. Love must, when the bucket is passed at the back of the nave, put something in it.”
After his speech, the Dean of St Albans, the Very Revd Jo Kelly-Moore, who chairs the Association of English Cathedrals, told delegates that the latest research would be shared with parliamentarians in Westminster next month.
“Conserving these Grade I listed buildings and keeping them open, safe, warm, and welcoming brings constant financial pressure — one we must address together,” she said.
“A demonstration of the urgency is seen in the fact that nearly three-quarters of cathedrals are experiencing operational deficits at this time.
“With no government support — and the fact that the Church Commissioners do not have the ability to fund fabric work — the structural funding gap for repairs and maintenance of these national treasures is becoming an ever greater burden . . .
“This new research is a harsh reminder of our fragility, an opportunity to name and explore the extraordinary potential and presence of our cathedrals, and to confront the very real task of funding that ongoing service to the nation.”