{"id":7453,"date":"2025-12-28T09:42:02","date_gmt":"2025-12-28T09:42:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=7453"},"modified":"2025-12-28T09:42:02","modified_gmt":"2025-12-28T09:42:02","slug":"new-archbishop-urged-to-scrap-100m-slavery-reparations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=7453","title":{"rendered":"New archbishop urged to scrap \u00a3100m slavery reparations"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The incoming Archbishop of Canterbury has been urged to scrap plans to spend \u00a3100m on slavery reparations. <\/p>\n

In a letter seen by the Sunday Times<\/a>, a group of Conservative MPs and peers has urged Dame Sarah Mullally to stop the Church of England from spending the money. <\/p>\n

They claim the funds can only legally be spent on churches and the payment of clergy wages. <\/p>\n

In a statement to the paper, the Church Commissioners said that arrangements for the fund were being “developed transparently – in line with charity law”. <\/p>\n

Mullally, who currently serves as the Bishop of London, will take up her new role as the first-ever female Archbishop of Canterbury next month. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The Church of England’s slavery reparations proposal was announced in January 2023<\/a> following the publication of a report into the Church’s historical links to transatlantic slavery.<\/p>\n

The report<\/a>, requested by the Church’s financing arm – the Church Commissioners – found that a fund established by Queen Anne in 1704 to help poor Anglican clergy was used to finance “great evil”.<\/p>\n

According to the report, the fund, known as Queen Anne’s Bounty, invested in African chattel enslavement and took donations derived from it.<\/p>\n

After the report’s publication, the then-Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, said he was “deeply sorry” for the links and said action would be taken to address the Church’s “shameful past”.<\/p>\n

The Church Commissioners announced a new \u00a3100m fund, committed over a nine-year period, to be spent on “a programme of investment, research and engagement” in communities damaged by the enslavement of African people during the transatlantic slave trade. <\/p>\n

However, in their letter to Mullally, MPs and peers have urged the Church to focus on “strengthening parishes” rather than on pursuing what they describe as “high-profile and legally dubious vanity projects”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Tory MP Katie Lam is among those urging the Church to scrap its reparations plan<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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The letter, whose co-authors include MPs Katie Lam, Chris Philp and Claire Coutinho, adds: “By law, the endowment must be used to support parish ministry, maintain church buildings, and care for the Church’s historic records.<\/p>\n

“At a moment when churches across the country are struggling to keep their doors open \u2014 many even falling into disrepair \u2014 it’s wrong to try and justify diverting \u00a3100 million to a project entirely separate from those core obligations.”<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the Church Commissioners told the Sunday Times: “The Church Commissioners, as a 320-year-old Christian in-perpetuity endowment fund, has committed \u00a3100 million to set up a new investment fund to support healing, justice and repair, in response to the discovery of its historic links with transatlantic African chattel enslavement.<\/p>\n

“This is consistent with the Church of England’s Fourth Mark of Mission: to ‘seek to transform unjust structures of society, to challenge violence of every kind and pursue peace and reconciliation’. <\/p>\n

“Governance arrangements are being developed transparently \u2014 in line with charity law, our fiduciary duties, and our moral purpose \u2014 to ensure proper oversight and accountability.”<\/p>\n

Mullally will formally replace Welby in a ceremony at St Paul’s Cathedral in January before being enthroned at Canterbury Cathedral in March.<\/p>\n

A former NHS chief nurse, the 63-year-old became a priest in 2006 and was appointed as the first female Bishop of London in 2018 – the third most senior member of clergy in the Church of England.<\/p>\n

The Church has been without someone in the top job for almost a year after Justin Welby resigned over a safeguarding scandal.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

#archbishop #urged #scrap #100m #slavery #reparations<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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