AN ATTEMPT to stop cathedrals charging visitors for entry is to be made at the General Synod of the Church of England.
A private member’s motion tabled by Tom Sutcliffe, a lay member from Southwark, aims to “reinforce the principles of free access and Christian hospitality” in the nation’s 43 Anglican cathedrals.
“The imposition of a charge for ordinary entrance to cathedrals risks turning these monuments to Christian commitment, which are tools of mission and opportunities for evangelism, into touristic commodities,” he said.
Cathedrals are among the most heavily visited tourist sites in the country. In 2000 York Minster was the second most popular attraction (after the Tower of London) with 1.75 million visitors. Canterbury attracted more than 1.2 million people. Nine of the top 20 attractions, and five of the top seven, were Anglican cathedrals or churches. No other category of historic property attracts as many visitors.
Cathedrals argue that they must charge to help to offset the cost of maintenance. Lincoln costs £2.25 million a year to run. In addition, many cathedrals suffered a large drop in income after September 11.
Most cathedrals levied a charge on visitors at the start of the 19th century, but this was brought to an end by Victorian idealism and, for most of the 20th century, entry was free. Cathedrals began charging towards the end of the last decade.
Mr Sutcliffe, a former opera critic of the London Evening Standard, said that free entry to museums had been achieved and new investment in museums was no longer being funded from entrance charges.
Cathedrals and other “shrine” churches were part of the national heritage and locations where the faith had been practised and witnessed for centuries. They had the power to evoke belief in visitors.
Mr Sutcliffe said: “Should that opportunity for the operation of the Holy Spirit be reserved for those with the money to afford entrance, for those who respond to the idea of an elevated form of cultural consumption? Or should it be available for discovery by the casual, accidental visitor who, thanks to these great stone poems, may find God taking them by the arm.”
Even with support from lottery funds and other sources, the maintenance of cathedrals was a financial and managerial burden for the Church.
He said the present system was also unjust. Whereas cathedrals of architectural and artistic merit could turn their quality into a marketable commodity those of less merit did not have recourse to the same action. “Age and beauty become a sort of rip-off,” he said.
“The plain Janes are left to cope with financial hardship and feel inferior. Why should lucky cathedrals which are popular with tourists be allowed an easier financial time, thanks to entrance charges, than cathedrals with more opportunity to perform a necessary pastoral role but less exploitable beauty?” One solution might be to link cathedrals and other shrines in a holy equivalent of the National Trust, with members allowed free access to all participating buildings.
Mr Sutcliffe’s motion is expected to be debated at the next synod in February.
Bishops and clergy in the Church of England were voted a 17 per cent pay increase last night, taking the vicar’s stipend to £20,000 and the Archbishop of Canterbury’s pay to more than £64,000.
Clergy and laity at the General Synod voted against the increase. But they were overruled by the bishops. It will be the clergy and laity who now have to shoulder the burden of finding the extra cash.
The proposal will cost the church an extra £23.3 million a year. The pensions bill will also go up by £7 million.
An offertory: what they charge
St Paul’s in London charges £6, Ely charges £4 and Canterbury and Lincoln charge £3.50. Westminster Abbey, not a cathedral but a “Royal Peculiar” coming under the direct jurisdiction of the Queen, charges £6.
Salisbury technically does not charge but in practice it is difficult to refuse a £3.50 “request” for a donation. York Minister charges large tour groups and requests a £3.50 donation from individual visitors.