Rectories are under review
A COUPLE of dozen ratepayers of the Castel parish came to a common-sense decision last week to sell the parish rectory.
While there certainly is sadness in the parish at the loss of an attractive and iconic building from ratepayer ownership, the parish has already disposed of another far more grandiose property in Rue de Presbytere, and arguments have been well made about the costs associated with maintaining a large family property which just isn’t needed today.
But as the number of rectors across the parishes continue to decline, why should the Castel be keen to spend some of the returns it is hoping to achieve on building another rectory?
It emerged that the current parish rector is operating on a part-time basis and is being housed in St Peter Port – living possibly closer to the parish church than the current rectory at St Matthew’s.
Parishes are increasingly seeing the opportunity to cash in on their property and find other ways to house a parish priest, if they have one. If they ever did, the priest no longer has to live on the doorstep of the church.
It would end more than a century of tradition, but as the Church of England in Guernsey goes through change, we’re almost certain to see more of this, as the opportunity is taken to find more pragmatic ways to support the parish churches and their infrastructure.