Letters from the week of 4 - 10 June 2018

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Further issues with Tasmanian Church Building Sales

'Families fearful Tasmanian church sales will destroy cemeteries' (AO News June 4) is only a part of the difficulties that will confront the Anglican Church in this Diocese. For many the 'forced' sale of their local church and/or parish hall will be a substantial challenge to their faithfulness—and to some their 'faith'. Despite the reassuring 'the Church is the people not the building' for Anglicans across Tasmania's rural areas that's not going to be as comforting as it sounds.

And understandably so! For them and the departed generations they are now representing the church is the Church and the alternatives suggested- school halls, cafes, sporting facilities, won't quite cut it.

Unfortunately a sub-text at resistance to the sale of a church is that there is an underlying rejection of the purpose: to provide funds for a "Redress Scheme" to substantially financially compensate victims of abuse within the Anglican Church in this Diocese.

That is unlikely to be so: there is strong support for such a 'Redress' - there is much less support out here in the sticks for the methods being adopted and which are leading to a 'city/country divide'

Trevor Cowell
Christ Church, Illawarra, Parish of Longford, Tasmania
trevorcowell@bigpond.com
4 June 2018