Australia’s Largest Christian News Site

Thanks to a grant, the UK’s St Mary’s won’t become another Church of England (CofE) virtue-signalling statistic.

The grant saves the 900-year-old church from the CofE’s 100-million-pound 2025 commitment to combat “whiteness” and pay “reparations” before fixing rot and ruin.

Built in 1180, and situated in South Westmorland’s Kirkby Lonsdale parish, the medieval stone church’s condition has been diagnosed as “very bad”.

An assessment available online, which reads like a report card on the spiritual state of the CofE, declared the magnificent old church to be highly vulnerable to decline.

900 Years of History at Risk

The report also declared St Mary’s is in “immediate risk of further rapid deterioration or loss of fabric; no solution agreed.”

A heritage-listed Grade 1 building, the church has ties to the Normans and Saxons.

According to the UK Churches Trust, the architecture, including its large columns, shares a similarity with Durham Cathedral.

The church’s stained glass is 19^th century, “the tower houses six bells”, and the orders for ringing them are written on the wall.

“The oldest dates from 1633, and the newest from 1724.”

While “significant work has already been completed,” the parish said in a project brochure, more needs to be done to save the building.

Calling the crisis “an unimaginable turning point,” they explained that “St Mary’s urgently needs a programme of works, the likes of which hasn’t been undertaken in a century.”

Without the repairs, they added, the church will eventually be shut down because of safety concerns.

The roof badly leaks, the tower has to be re-rendered, and the ailing wooden bell frame needs to be replaced.

Even the old market town church’s clock needed some tender love and care.

Noting some success, the parish reported the “heritage at risk” recognition as good news, adding to this that the drains had been fixed.

Still, there’s a truckload of problems, and the church’s financial reserves are too low to fund it.

Adding to the pain is a dwindling congregation, which for the church means an inability to “even begin the required works.”

In spite of the lack of solutions, the parish is walking by faith.

Determined, they’re planning for St Mary’s next 900 years.

Funding the Future of St Mary’s

Among a wish list of ideas to secure a rock-solid financial plan is improving inclusion, by way of levelling-up interactions with tourists who want access to the site.

Added into the plan to save St Mary’s is a quest to “save the planet.”

Parish caretakers will make sure the building complies with the Anglican Church’s initiatives to combat the “climate crisis” by “improving the building’s environmental footprint.”

“In the face of accelerating climate change and species loss,” they stated, “we want to develop the church land to protect and care for nature.”

“Building in sustainability will also mean anticipating the possible impact of climate change, which may result in more unpredictable weather.”

The predicted cost for all of the repairs and added “investment” in renewables is 4.8 million pounds.

St Mary’s is unlikely to get a cut of the Anglican Church’s 200-million-pound Critical Race Theory, carbon-zero spending plan.

While the net zero policy includes making buildings energy efficient, it doesn’t apply to save-the-building renovations.

To fund the restoration, the parish plans to continue asking for donations, trialling a café, leasing out the building for “events (including the bar), film and TV.”

Stepping out in faith, St Mary’s said they hoped 80% of the funding would come from winning the Heritage “lottery.”

In 2025, the church “submitted an expression of interest” with England’s National Lottery Heritage Fund (NHLF).

Reaching out to the NHLF showed promise. They quickly replied, asking for more information.

Hope on the Horizon

An answer to prayer, persistence, and patience, in June, the NHLF awarded St Mary’s a starter development grant of 370,000 pounds.

Reporting on the crumbling church’s reprieve, the BBC said, “Peter Gregson, the church’s project leader, and his team were ‘delighted and very grateful’ to receive the initial support.”

North England’s NHLF director Helen Featherstone told the BBC that they were “thrilled to support St Mary’s with the initial grant.”

This gives the parish immediate access to funds so they can work “towards repairing and restoring the striking, centuries-old Grade I listed building.”

St Mary’s salvation is good news. It contrasts with the seemingly constant barrage of bad news about churches closing, burning down, or being desecrated.

The initial funds will be prioritised to fix the rot and save the church from further ruin.

St Mary’s has stipulated that the funds come with the capacity to apply for a full grant down the track.

A sober add-on to the funding is the catch.

The situation is a good example of the secular saving the sacred. All while high church bureaucrats waste money on virtue-signalling vanity projects.

Although the help is undeniably welcome, for the parish to secure the necessary finances, it will have to use the building to serve what it was never built to glorify.

___

Image of St Mary’s via Wikipedia.