Tributes Paid to Baroness Thatcher

E I D S IN McGrath on CS Lewis E4,E5 THE SUNDAY, APRIL 14, 2013 No: 6172 www.churchnewspaper.com PRICE £1.35 1,70j US$2.20 CHURCH OF ENGLAND THE ORIGINAL CHURCH NEWSPAPER ESTABLISHED IN 1828 NEWSPAPER Churches tackle housing crisis CHURCHES IN WALES are being urged to ments a chance to learn more about church suitable for today’s worshippers as they are rest has been converted into a four-storey transform any available space, including land and buildings. too large and difficult for small congrega- luxury home with a basement swimming closed buildings and glebe land, into Alex Glanville, head of property services tions to maintain. pool. affordable homes to help tackle the in the Church in Wales, explained the “They could be leased or sold to housing The former nave has become a vast draw- nation’s housing crisis while a church in thinking behind the church initiative. “For associations if they become redundant or ing room with a 42ft vaulted ceiling. Wor- London is on the market for £50 million many people in Wales the notion that there partly converted if they are still used for shippers who use the small area that after being converted into one of the capi- is still poverty and homelessness in our worship. All the money raised will be remains as a church told the ‘Evening Stan- tal’s most opulent homes. country may be unbelievable,” he said. “Yet ploughed back into the Church’s ministry,” dard’ that the conversion work had caused Faith in Affordable Housing is a project the number of homeless and poorly housed he suggested. ‘endless aggravation’. that will be highlighted by a special confer- people in Wales is rising fast and charities Since 2007, the Church in Wales has sold The converted church is not being for- ence called for 26 April by the Church in are calling for urgent action now to prevent four churches to housing associations and mally placed on the market but being ‘dis- Wales and the housing charity, Housing a housing crisis. has a further six in the process of being creetly placed’ with a handful of super-rich, Justice, and sponsored by the Welsh Gov- “As a Church, we increasingly have more sold or under consideration. predominantly overseas, buyers. It is now ernment. building space than we need across Wales By way of contrast, St Saviour’s, Knights- known as St Saviour’s House. The conference will encourage local con- and we are keen to see how it could be con- bridge, only a few yards from Harrods, is The sale comes as concern grows in Lon- gregations to think about how they can verted into affordable housing. on sale 15 years after the Diocese sold don at the number of foreign-owned luxury help provide affordable housing and will “We have many churches built 150 years most of it for £1million. A small part of the homes in such areas as Belgravia that are also give people working in local govern- or so ago for example, that are no longer building is still used for worship but the unoccupied for most of the year. Tributes paid to Baroness Thatcher ST PAUL’S CATHEDRAL is to be the venue for the ceremonial funeral of Baroness Thatcher, who died on Monday. “The fundamental reason of being put on earth is so to improve your character that you are fit for the next world,” Baroness Thatcher said on Radio 4 in 1987. The Archbishop of Canter- bury released a statement following the death of the former Prime Minister on Monday, saying: “It was with sadness that I heard the news of the death of Baroness Thatcher and my prayers are with her son and daughter, her grand- children, family and friends. It is right that today we give thanks for a life devoted to public service, acknowledging also the faith that inspired and Saying goodbye: sustained her.” Margaret Thatcher Obituary: page 5 LETTERS 8 • PETER MULLEN 9 • COMMENT 9 • CLERGY MOVES 12 • ANGLICAN LIFE 13 • SUNDAY 15 • PAUL RICHARDSON 16 2 www.churchnewspaper.com Sunday April 14, 2013 News Inside... Britain’ s leading evangelical newspaper Parable is reborn “GO FORTH and multiply,” said the vicar. And they did — more than £10,000 worth. Richard Steel, rector at Kirkheaton Parish Church, near Hudder- sfield in West Yorkshire, distributed 550 of his own £10 notes at a church service last November in a final attempt to raise £73,000 for church renovations. His idea originated in the Gospel of Matthew’s Parable of the Tal- ents, in which Jesus describes a story of a man who entrusts money to his servants. While one servant opted to simply bury his money in the ground, the other two servants chose to double their invest- ments. Mr Steel hoped to see the same return on profit from his congregation come Easter Day, and after four months of waiting, his News . 1-7 prayers were answered. Your Church . 2 While almost £500,000 had already been raised towards church UK News . 1-5 repairs over the past seven years, members of the congregation World News . 6-7 individually invested this money purchasing materials and products that they then transformed and sold at a profit. Comment “Not everyone in the church has money to give so I thought I’d Letters . .8 offer them some ‘seed capital’ to invest, maybe in baking cakes for Leader . .9 sale, buying car-washing kit, material to make cards or a woolly hat Peter Mullen . 9 to keep warm when offering a dog-walking service.” St John’s parishioner Gill Jolly, for instance, used her artistic tal- England on Sunday ents in her home studio to raise money for the church with the sales Justin and Francis . .E1 of a few of her artworks. given for God, not to waste them. Andrew Carey . .E2 The thousands raised will now go to installing a new floor, new “I wanted all, from the oldest to the youngest to feel involved in Whispering Gallery . .E2 heating system, kitchen and toilets, office, as well as a full redeco- this exciting project and hopefully do some good and have some fun Tommy Gee . .E3 ration and replacing the pews with chairs. This final fundraiser will while they did it,” he said. Judy West . .E3 also help with the costs of expansion to make the church more suit- Mr Steel is encouraging others looking to preserve old parishes McGrath on Lewis . .E4, E5 able for a wider community. to follow the words of Jesus as he did in that, “What you give will be Arts & Media . .E6 “Jesus encouraged people to fully use the gifts they had been given back to you.” Books . .E7 Janey Lee Grace . .E8 Crossword . .E8 Fears over brain-boosting drugs raised The Record Classifieds . .10, 11 USE of drugs to boost memory and improve in order to receive prescriptions for drugs So far warnings in both the US and the Clergy Moves . .12 alertness have come under criticism from that will improve concentration. It is UK have concentrated on the addictive Anglican Life . .13 the Head of Public Policy at the Christian claimed parents are pressurising doctors to properties of these drugs but there is still a Faith Stories . .14 Medical Fellowship, Philippa Taylor. Her help with their children’s troubling behav- lack of knowledge about possible side Spiritual Director . .15 comments came at the same time as the iour and slipping grades. effects. Sunday Service . .15 New York Times published a long article In ‘Helix’, the journal of CMF, Philippa “The brain continues to mature until the Peter Brierley . .15 claiming nearly one in five high school boys Taylor says that ‘brain steroids’ or ‘smart late 20s and beyond,” warns Ms Taylor. “No Paul Richardson . .16 in the US have received a diagnosis of atten- drugs’ can be bought for a few pounds to one really understands the consequences of People . .16 tion deficit hyperactivity disorder. enhance focus, concentration, or memory. the long-term used of stimulants on a devel- Milestones . .16 The fear in the US is that some parents In Britain the most common users are peo- oping brain.” Next week’s news . .16 and young people are seeking the diagnosis ple aged 18–25. News from Your Church your diocese DERBY: The Bishop of Derby’s 2012 Harvest Appeal of Hereford, will be held on 25 April at Leominster Priory. possible, so that those suffering hardship and extreme raised over £27,500 in aid of the Mothers’ Union Parenting Anni Holden, one of the organisers, said: “We are working worry and isolation can at least know of our solidarity.” Project in Rwanda, which supports vulnerable children with the Shropshire and Herefordshire Churches’ Bishop Priddis pointed out in his letter that The Farm and traumatized families. The Mothers’ Union introduced Tourism Groups and the neighbouring dioceses of Lich- Community Network (FCN) received more local calls in a worldwide Parenting Project in 2005 in Rwanda that field and Worcester, so were confident people would come the January than the whole of last year, and is now urging includes education around early marriage, HIV, marriage to this rural area but it is now shaping up to be an excellent the purchase of as much locally sourced food as possible break-up and child abuse - supporting many of those who day.” It’s the first time Hereford Diocese has held such a to ensure returns to the local economy, and in turn, these survived the genocide in that country.

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