Letter to Church Times November 16th 2010

(After report of former Bishop of Durham opposing sale of paintings in Bishop’s palace Durham) I was utterly aghast to read former Bishop of Durham, Tom Wright, opposing the proposed sale of paintings worth £15 million pounds which was reported in the Church Times 12 November 2010. The Church commissioners’ grounds for their proposal were the urgent need to fund the ministry of the church across the country. Dr Wright's comments, with respect to the great New Testament scholar, suggest our Church commissioners are more in touch with reality and the mission of the church than he is. To say £15 million is a drop in the ocean as he implies for the Church of England just reinforces the widespread view that our Church is out of touch with the desperate plight of many of our parishioners in Urban priority areas such as the ones which he was responsible for in County Durham and the parish of Middleton in South Leeds where I am priest in charge. Many of my parishioners face the threat of redundancy and poverty in these times of harsh cuts to public services. Many young people face the future with great anxieties- the route to further education seems less and less a viable option given the proposed increases to student loans. Long term unemployed feel demonised and threatened by those who have no understanding of the ancient historical inequalities and long term social and spiritual deprivations which have contributed to the parlous state they find themselves in. Many of the youth workers who help our church to make a tiny difference to the lives of our marginalised disaffected youth find their jobs to be under threat. One could go on and on. I hope the paintings are sold and the money spent on mission. £15million may be little to Dr Wright but even just a small proportion of that amount used to fund church projects like our Crossroads youth Project which works with disaffected teenagers on the streets- or maybe to fund a project to deal with alcohol or drugs abuse or the work of Middleton Elderly Aiud would make an enormous difference to the lives of those on the margins whom Christ has a special care for: it could even fund some jobs!!. I am proud of the church commissioners saying the Church is "not custodians of great works of Art." The great work of Art our church is called to is the transformation of society through loving service and sacrifice. I hope Dr Wright doesn't get his way and I hope some of the money can fund projects like ours in Middleton and doubtless the many projects which could be funded in the depressed areas of County Durham.

Rev Andy Myers Priest in Charge of Middleton St Cross and St Mary's