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Diocese that has twice as many Muslim worshippers as Anglicans; “white flight” mentioned
Topic Started: Oct 24 2010, 01:44 AM (48 Views)
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Facing the axe: Diocese that has twice as many Muslim worshippers as Anglicans
By Jonathan Petre
Last updated at 12:16 AM on 24th October 2010



A historic Church of England diocese where Muslim worshippers outnumber Anglican churchgoers by two to one is set to be scrapped.

According to sources, the Dioceses Commission is drawing up proposals to axe the cash-strapped Diocese of Bradford in Yorkshire and merge it with neighbouring Ripon and Leeds. Some are pressing for both dioceses to be subsumed into the adjoining Diocese of York, to create a ‘superdiocese’ under Archbishop of York John Sentamu, the Church’s second-most powerful leader.

Posted Image
Contrasting fortunes: A rooftop scene in Bradford, showing a mosque and nearby church spire

The first major shake-up of dioceses for almost 100 years could also see senior ­bishops replaced by lower-paid juniors, and ­millions of pounds shaved off central administration costs. The move comes at a time when the Church is facing a severe financial squeeze, with £1billion wiped off its national assets last year. Insiders said the crisis was particularly acute in parts of the country where population shifts had accelerated a general decline in churchgoing, hitting church collections which feed diocesan coffers. One said: ‘Some areas with a high concentration of Muslim migrants have experienced “white flight” and the Church is struggling to maintain a foothold.’

Statisticians have predicted that there will be more Muslims in Britain’s mosques on Fridays than Anglicans in church on Sundays within a decade – though Church spokesmen point out that Anglicans increasingly worship at other times of the week.

The latest figures suggest this milestone has already been passed in the Diocese of Bradford, which was founded in 1919 and covers the city, the western quarter of North Yorkshire and parts of East Lancashire, South-East Cumbria and Leeds. According to official attendance figures, ‘usual’ Sunday churchgoing across the ­diocese’s 147 parishes fell from 13,500 in 2000 to 8,700 in 2008.

Though there are no official ­statistics for Muslim worshippers, Government surveys have established that at least a quarter of Muslims are weekly mosque-goers.

Religious statistician Peter ­Brierley said that as the Muslim population in Bradford was about 80,000, on a conservative estimate 20,000 are regular worshippers, more than double the number of their Anglican counterparts. Canon Rod Anderson, of St Barnabas Church in Heaton, Bradford, said he was aware officials had been considering merging the diocese to make savings. He said during his 16 years at the church, the congregation had diminished from more than 100 on Sundays to between 40 and 60. He added: ‘I have seen a demographic shift with a large ethnic Asian influx, which has had a noticeable impact on congregation sizes and the knock-on of this is a downturn in financial fortunes.’

St Margaret’s Church in nearby Thornbury has a weekly congregation of 20 to 30 and is surviving on a turnover of £20,000 a year. The vicar, Friar Nicholas Clews, 52, said: ‘There is no doubt in this climate of cuts the diocese is looking to find ways of making the running of the churches cost-effective.’ Bradford’s 80 mosques, meanwhile, enjoy a healthy turnover of cash provided by Muslim worshippers, with a number raising more than £60,000 a year. A spokesman for Bradford’s Council For Mosques said: ‘On Friday, all the mosques are crammed full. In the bigger ones it is not uncommon to see 2,000 ­worshippers or more go through in a day.’

Sunday churchgoing is a little healthier in the neighbouring diocese of Ripon and Leeds, though its population of about 810,000 is more than 100,000 larger than Bradford’s. Sunday services in the diocese are now attended by 12,300 worshippers, down from 12,800 in 2004. Statisticians estimated that in Leeds alone, there are about 8,000 Muslims in mosques on Fridays.

The Dioceses Commission, which was set up two years ago to review bishops’ posts and the size and number of dioceses, is expected to publish its first report in December. Any recommendation to scrap dioceses is, however, likely to be met by an outcry and the proposals will still have to be approved by the Church’s Parliament, the General Synod, so could take years to implement.

Relations between the Church of England and Muslims are also highly sensitive.

The former Bishop of Rochester Michael Nazir-Ali received death threats two years ago after claiming that extremists had created ‘no-go areas’ and non-Muslims faced physical attack in communities dominated by a strict Islamic ideology.
Neither the Diocese of Bradford nor members of the Commission, which is chaired by former headmistress Priscilla Chadwick, were prepared to comment last night.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1323237/Facing-axe-Diocese-twice-Muslim-worshippers-Anglicans.html#ixzz13EScD0Kl





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