Church of England fears parish backlash over £100m slavery fund.
Bishop concedes there is anecdotal evidence that anger about the scheme has led to people stopping giving to their local church
Kaya Burgess
, Religious Affairs Correspondent
Thursday July 04 2024, 5.05pm BST, The Times
The Archbishop of Canterbury has apologised for the Church of England’s past investments in the “shameful and horrific sin” of slavery.The Church of England fears that worshippers are donating less to the collection plate in protest over its creation of a £100 million slavery reparations fund.Bishops have moved to reassure congregations that none of the money they give to their local parish is being used for the fund.They said the money was coming from the church’s central investment pot and said the cash would be given out in grants to projects working with communities that were still suffering from “the legacy of horrifying cruelty” of the slave trade.A report in 2022 found that a significant proportion of the church’s wealth, valued at £10.4 billion according to new accounts, can be traced back to Queen Anne’s Bounty, a gift it received in the early 18th century from the monarch.It found that this fund “received a significant share of its income from the South Sea Company, a company that was … designed from the outset as a slaving company”. The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Rev Justin Welby, said he was “deeply sorry” for the church’s investments in the “shameful and horrific sin” of slavery.The church has set aside £100 million to be disbursed in grants over nine years. The term “reparations” has been used to refer to the fund, but the money will not be given out as compensation to descendants of enslaved people. It will instead be awarded to community projects working in black communities in Britain.The Church of England’s finance chiefs stressed that they were investing more than £3 billion in parishes, a figure 30 times larger than the slavery fund, over the same period. The project has, however, received a mixed reception in parishes that are struggling financially. Times.
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