I am always enraged by bland comment such as that contained in the heading to this particular entry to my weblog.I am echoing a report in the local Church Guardian (page 3, see here)on a spate of recent church break-ins, I want to challenge the assertion that because there are thefts from churches therefore we must ensure that our churches are firmly locked.
Early in my ministry a priest colleague said to me that we should do everything we can to keep our churches open. And I have tried to do that, with, I believe, some success.
It would be a mistake to argue solely from my limited experience, but maybe that is all I have to go on.
Some subjective observations then:
- The worst break-in I have experienced occurred in the parish where I was a curate when I was first ordained. The Church was always kept locked.
- In my first sole-charge parish we lived in a poor area known for some social problems, drugs and violence. Our policy was to keep the church open during daylight time, there was no vandalism to the church and there was plenty of evidence that people came in to pray...I have a number of stories of catching people at it...prayer that is!
- The worst vandalism to that church was grafitti to the outside just after we had painted it...it wouldn't have made any difference if the church was locked or open.
- My next parish was kept open during daylight and there was an accident in which a piece of marble was knocked over (accidently probably). Plenty of evidence of people coming in to pray.
- My present parish has two churches. One is kept open 24 hours a day. The other (because it is remote) is secured unless someone is around.
- I have had numerous expressions of appreciation of this policy, and also lots of comments from people about how awful it is when you go on holiday and can't get into churches.
Let us not give away the open church policy out of fear or lack of thought. Let us not allow our own obsession with the material, insurance and social fear to dictate what we ought to do. Maybe we have to put some effort and energy into it. Not a bad thing to do really!!
Idealistic? I hope so!
2 comments:
I've heard various reasons for keeping the church locked when no-one is there.
(1) It's not like the old days. The church will be robbed or vandalised.
(2) It would be too great a temptation for a would be robber passing by.
(3) What if someone comes in and gets hurt when no-one is here. We will get sued.
(4) We don't want the wrong type of people coming into our church.
Along a similar line, another church had an argument over a sign down the street. The sign, which was under the street name, pointed in the direction of the church and gave its name. The local council had put it up so that people could find the church. But some church members objected, because they didn't want anyone or anybody coming along to "our church" because "how would we know if they were the right sort of people", and because "we don't want freeloaders coming to the church looking for handouts."
:(
Yes indeed. We have heard it all before. I recently suggested to two highly placed clegy that we could maximise our car parking by combining our car park with that of our neighbour by demolishing a fence. This would advantage us both.
"OoooH!" said one, "there would be insurance implications"
"OOhhh" the other nodded sagely.
The reason we often don't achieve much is because we don't allow ourselves to think outside the square, and permit problems to be opportunities rather than barriers.
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