Selling St Mark’s, Mayfair, to a millionaire beauty magnate would be an act of blasphemy, shattering a 185-year-old covenant, Lady Sainsbury has claimed this week.
Speaking to The Church of England Newspaper, just weeks before a crucial meeting will decide the building’s fate, Lady Sainsbury, who attends the church, is determined that St Mark’s should be saved.
The diocese is currently trying to negotiate a deal with George Hammer of Hammer Holdings, who owns The Sanctuary in London’s Covent Garden. Hammer plans to turn the North Audley Street church into a ”˜wellness centre’. Last month he was refused planning permission but is still continuing his bid.
This covenant aspect is quite interesting. When another site, old St George’s Hospital on Hyde Park Corner was sold to hotel developers, the Grosvenor estate intervened to require back the half of the site which had been given for a hospital under such a covenant. It took some time for this to be sorted, I seem to remember with a payment to the Grosvenor estate. I rather think the neighboring properties to St Mark’s will still be part of the Grosvenor Estate so they or their successors would have the right to enforce such a covenant if so minded, but of course the devil is in the detail.
More sadly it would seem that some in the diocese including Archdeacon Jacobs [he lectures at Cardiff Uni – is he part of the Welsh mafia who run our church and Communion?] are hell bent on getting rid of it even though that will limit the use waiting for it as an overflow from the booming Holy Trinity, Brompton Road.
So we, or at least some of us, continue to shoot ourselves in the foot.
That is Archdeacon Jacob.
[Edited by Elf]
St. Mark’s is beautifully situated, and would be particularly convenient for the tourists and visitors who stay in the Oxford Street area, as well as to the U.S. Embassy which is a block away. One has to wonder why there is opposition to having an Anglican parish there, for it is the perfect place for one. Is it possible that the objection is to HTB’s being the parish that is seeking to put a parish there?
Where does the future lie?
[blockquote]Although the Church of England has reported a rise in adult baptisms, and about 1.5 million people were expected to attend church this Easter, nearly 50 per cent higher than average Sunday attendances, most Christian churches are in decline.
This trend is bucked in the large evangelical churches, such as Holy Trinity Brompton in Knightsbridge, West London, where numbers signing up to the Alpha course introduction to Christianity have increased by more than a third over the past year.[/blockquote]
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article6081919.ece
With the growing churches or the deadbeats who get themselves into positions where they can block growth?
Here’s just a thought, but one that keeps coming back. The Anglo-Catholic branch of the Church speaks a great deal of the Eucharist (great) because it is a command (yes) to engage in the sacrament of intimacy with Christ (no problem). So…why do so many of the same Anglicans ignore another very specific command equal to “do this in remembrance”. Namely: “Go and MAKE disciples of all nations, TEACHING them to observe all that I have commanded you.”? Seems to me that too many Anglicans are very thin (if not just invisible) on THAT command. Hence, we see the fruits of incomplete theology in the dwindling numbers, and vacated properties.
Thanks, PageantMaster and RomeAnglican, for your helpful comments. One thing I learned from this article was that HTB (Holy Trinity, Brompton) has now successfully revived ten, yes 10, dead or dying churches, forming a sort of subdiocese within the diocese. Wow, that’s impressive.
Although I don’t know the archdeacon or anyone else involved in this dispute, I have repeatedly observed similar dynamics on this side of the Pond in TEC. Priests and lay leaders (especially liberal ones) in nearby churches often get very anxious when there’s any talk about starting a new Episcopal church anywhere closeby, fearing that it will siphon off prospective (or current) members of their own churches. Although understandable, it’s largely an irrational and exaggerated fear, since the new church normally caters to a different clientele that wouldn’t be attracted to the other surrounding churches anyway. And certainly any satellite or daughter church of booming HTB would be very unlike the existing Anglican churches in the area.
Aas, there’s also the sheer factor of human jealousy or even envy, which is one of the seven deadly sins, and a perennial temptation to which members of the clergy are far from immune. The immense success of Alpha and Nicky Gumble’s flourishing ecclesiastical empire appears to have left many CoE clerics very jealous and envious indeed. And after all, when HTB successfully starts yet another church where all the local Aglican franchises have been floundering, it kind of makes those vicars look bad. And it helps tip the balance of power within the CoE toward the conservative side, which is reason enough for many liberal Anglicans to oppose any more HTB style churches.
Of course, that’s only speculation from an American who’s never yet visited London and who certainly can’t claim any personal knowledge of the situation in this particular case.
David Handy+
Oops, a bad typo. At the start of the 3rd paragraph, I meant, “Alas, there’s also the sheer factor of human jealousy and envy…” And thanks for posting the link about HTB’s growth, Pageanmaster. I always appreciate your insightful comments.
David Handy+
Thanks Rev Handy and welcome back.
You may well have put your finger on it although the local churches are not all liberal, and in particular I am not sure whether Archdeacon Jacob’s is. Some are however and one has an Episcopal priest on staff for the US embassy. However with security concerns in Central London, the US Embassy may move.
Instead of supporting this wonderful area of growth for our church, we are apparently condemned to repeat the mistakes of the past; as Choir Stall notes, this is not what the Lord calls us to do.
[Slightly edited by Elf]