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A Retired Rector's Reflections

Let’s open church doors

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iangomersall

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A special claim of the Church of England is that ot serves all the people of England regardless of the faith, or lack of faith they profess. Each person has a claim on the care and services of their parish priest and parish church. The parish system of the Church of England guarantees that everyone in England lives in a geographical parish, this foundational principle of Anglicanism is also in place in many Anglican churches beyond England.

Consequently the parish church has a special role. Here prayers and worship are offered for all parishioners. In the parish church, one hopes, all parishioners are welcome. The building is to be a sign of God’s love for all, and the should be doors open for those who seek spiritual comfort, private reflection and prayer, as well, of course, public worship. The old laws of the church required Morning and Evening Prayer to be said every day, whenever possible in the parish church, and when they were the church bell was to sound.

Church staffing, and the decline in numbers in congregations often make daily public prayers difficult in churches. However I believe strongly that parish churches should have fixed times of ipening during the week and for other times an indication be given of how access can be gained. I tried to do this in each church I served, even trying to ensure that in the maximum security prison I served it was made clear how a prisoner or staff member could come to the chapel at arranged times.

Sadly some parish churches are never open outside of sunday worship, and many give no indication of how to gain access. In this I believe they are failing their calling, and failing their parishioners. One church local to where I live, which I have always wanted to visit, has only one notice outside saying ‘Enquiries to…’ and gives the Postal address of a priest living about 8 miles away but gives no phone number, no website or email address.

The Church of England serves parishioners well when it offers them quiet sacred space in the midst of often busy and stressful lives. I was always moved when I discovered people praying or lighting candles in the inner city parish church I served in Manchester until my retirement. I even recall Hindu and Muslim people coming in and sitting quietly.

Today I was delighted that The Times published a letter to the Editor from me (above) on this topic. It is my hope that parish churches and their churchwardens, and archdeacons sharing in oversight, will relaise the calling of church buildings to serve people by simply havcing open doors ourtside the times of Sunday worship.

One response to “Let’s open church doors”

  1. Philosophical Haligonian Avatar
    Philosophical Haligonian

    I’ve always had this image in my mind that in my time of need, I can always go into a church and pray, but in Canada aside from major/large churches or cathedrals, usually in urban centres or tourist areas, most churches (all denominations, not just Anglican) will not be open outside of worship hours (the main exception being churches that have a lot of tourists who visit). Not sure if my comments will apply to the UK, but I’ll just talk about how it is in Canada.

    Part of the reason church doors are locked is staffing, the other main consideration is insurance (for the building itself (someone accidentally leaving a door open in Canadian winter can cause a lot of additional heating expense or damage and then there is the consideration of theft). I don’t think I’ve ever been to a rural Canadian church where the doors were unlocked and one could go visit or pray. During the week, at my church, when there are no worship services, the doors are usually locked with a sign pointing to the side door that leads to the parish office (we have two full-time clergy and one full time parish administrator, but we also are a cathedral (I’ve been to English cathedrals, but our cathedral staff pales compares to the them.) In the past, during cruise ship season, we would hire a summer student as a tour guide and have the church open during the week, but there are other insurance/safety considerations with a lone individual (insert insurance concerns again, e.g. if they hurt themselves, or if sometime happened between them and a visitor), the expense, COVID, and the supervision required by the cathedral staff, which caused the summer tour guide position to be in abeyance. One member of the parish council is trying to revive the position, but instead of a paid position it would be using volunteers, which hasn’t garnered a lot of volunteers.

    Recently, we had an incident that has caused us to close our doors even more. We usually leave the church doors open on Sunday between morning worship and evensong. No one would be in the main part of the church, but the choir is usually rehearsing in the choir room in the connecting building. A few weeks ago, a person was in the nave and tried setting the church on fire. The music director happened to be walking by and saw it, scared the individual away, put the fire out, and called the police. Since then, the cathedral is only opening the doors for worship services or when there’s actually people in the main building. That was quite an unfortunate incident, as now everyone is less open to the idea of leaving doors unlocked with no one in the building.

    I’ve travelled to other parts of the world where church doors are left open during the day and no one is in the church, but insurance requirements are probably different there, as well as more “steel fences” that keep visitors from being able to steal the gold/silver/relics.

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A Retired Rector reflects…

Welcome to a retired rector’s reflections. My name is Ian Gomersall, and I’m a retired Anglican priest living in the North East of England. Here, I share my thoughts on a variety of things which interest me, some delight me, some anger me, and many are passing thoughts.

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