A report setting out a road map for theological training in the wake of substantial government cuts was ”˜overwhelmingly carried’ by Synod on Sunday.
The result followed a lively debate on a report by the Ministry Council suggesting areas where the Church could save money.
Introducing the report, the Bishop of Sheffield, the Rt Rev Steven Croft, said: “Last September, the government announced far-reaching changes to the funding of Higher Education in England. It is not my purpose this afternoon to comment on the broad thrust of those proposals. They have significant consequences for the training of ordinands in the Church of England and also for other forms of formation for ministry.”
He said more than £900,000 per annum was likely to be lost in resources for pre-ordination training from 2012, as a result of cuts to the Higher Education Funding Council….
You know, having the Church pay its own bills and not live off the breadcrumbs of the Government’s table might not be a bad thing…
If they took what was being spent on spin doctors, listening process manipulators, and flying hither and thither trying to shove their agenda down the throats of the Communion and arranging schemes for propping up TEC, there would be plenty of money for training ordinands.