Living our Faith Appeal Launch
in Hampshire Downs

Trinity Sunday - 7th June 2009

“The Lord is God indeed in heaven above as on earth beneath, he and no other.”

They were living in a land of milk and honey and they were in danger of forgetting. They had a beautiful Temple and magnificent liturgy and were still in danger of forgetting. Moses had the task of inviting his flock to remember the great acts of God that had brought them to this point. Moses mentions the great events which surrounded the people’s deliverance from slavery in Egypt.

Today the invitation is given to us to do the same. To give thanks for the presence of God in our lives and for those times when we know he has intervened to guide us. Along with that there is another invitation to glimpse the infinite love that is the source of God’s goodness to us and which we honour in the life of the Trinity. The presence and action of Jesus in our lives, especially in the celebration of the Eucharist, draws us into the heart of that relationship of love which God is: The relationship of Father and Son in the unity of the Holy Spirit which we call the Most Holy Trinity.

Our Mission
And so Jesus, on that mountain in Galilee where his ministry began, sends us out to bring others into the people who rejoice in the presence of the Spirit of the risen Christ.

This mission, into which we are baptised, challenges us to use all the gifts that God gives us in the work of proclaiming the Good News and the presence of Christ.

Baptism, which embraces everything about us, challenges us to commit our talents and strengths, our education and gifts to the work God has given us. Among those gifts is our wealth which we are commanded to use for the building of the Kingdom in proportion to our circumstances.

Using our wealth in mission
The treasure that the Lord gives us must be shared with those who are in need and I would like to thank everyone for the generosity which marks our Covenant with the Poor and the other charitable appeals. This work for justice has to have a priority in all our giving.

Then there is our responsibility to care for the facilities that we are given and which are necessary to continue our mission as a community. By facilities, I mean the buildings and resources that our predecessors have provided for us in this parish. Countless numbers of Catholic men and women who lived in these parts have given much. Many of them were poor; some of them were rich; and a few of them were martyrs; and a few of them were astute property developers like Archbishop John Henry King, Mgr. Sydney Mullarkey, Canon Alban Burrett and Fr. Sebastian Ritchie.

When I arrived here nearly four years ago I was surprised by the wealth of facilities. Since that arrival, it has become clear to me - not without the request for guidance from the Lord - that I have a responsibility at this particular point in our history to make some major decisions to further the care of our facilities and make best use of them. Guided by our very capable Finance Committee and Pastoral Council, it also became clear that the decisions to repair, improve and make best use of our buildings would cost a lot of money.

The anxiety ceased when I had a conversation with the diocesan Financial Secretary who invited me to join the fund-raising initiative called “Living our Faith” which is being run by the diocese. He explained that we in Hampshire Downs would be able to raise the money we needed and we could contribute to the diocesan project to provide a capital fund.

So I joined the Living our Faith Project and I am now appealing to your generosity. Thanks for the ways in which you contribute to our appeals for the poor. Thanks for the generous ways in which the weekly collections keep everything running. Now I ask for a third strand in your generosity.

I need at least 1.8 million pounds. Our fundraising which started at Christmas has already raised more than £800,000 and I would like to thank all those who have made this possible.

So let me describe why I think we need the money. While we can afford to run the parish, we cannot afford to care for the properties we have and make the best use of them for the mission of the Church. We need an additional capital fund which is why I am speaking about this today.

St Gregory’s Alresford
We need funds for the upkeep of St. Gregory’s Alresford, particularly for roofing and related works, and we are already servicing a debt on the new pastoral centre. In addition, a lot of money has had to be spent on the house on this site and the existing roof. 

The St. Peter’s Site
At St. Peter’s, the priest’s house has a number of uses. It is the administrative hub for the parish where 6 or 7 people work. It is also a meeting place for groups and other activities, and because there is no kitchen on the St. Peter’s site for community use, the clergy house kitchen is used for cooking for social functions. All this is because the present parish centre at St. Peter’s, having been converted from the previous 1960’s clergy house, is no longer fit for purpose and needs to be rebuilt. It is no longer suitable to provide for the social and administrative needs of this parish.

St. Thomas More, Stockbridge
At St. Thomas More Stockbridge, expensive work will need to be done to repair the adjacent river bank and to provide a special needs toilet which complies with health and safety regulation as the present one does not.

Cemetery and Listed Buildings
As if this was not enough, the cemetery wall at St. James’ is set to cost us a lot of money when it is repaired and, because of its position adjacent to a major road out of Winchester, this work is urgent. This need may not be paid by the Living our Faith project but it illustrates the need we have for a capital fund for development.

Add to all this the fact that St. Peter’s is a listed building with an organ that was condemned in 1992 and I have a huge financial headache.

I did mention that we would contribute to the diocesan fund as well. The Bishop needs help to pay for the team which provides educational support to the parishes. Then there is my own area of work as the Episcopal Vicar for the Formation of the Clergy. I am frequently reminded that I am the biggest spender in the diocese and I use the money on the care, support and education of priests. I remember one meeting when someone said that if we had any more students for the priesthood, they would need to be sent home because we could not afford to educate them. I made a strong protest and suggested an appeal like this one. It costs around £20,000 per year to educate a student, and the annual collection from the diocese provides enough to educate one and a half.

So, as the Parish Priest of Hampshire Downs, I call on your generosity to support this appeal. Individuals will continue to be invited to make significant gifts. Already, a few have made pledges of £100,000; others have made smaller pledges like £6,000 or £3,000. I hope that the accomplished fundraisers amongst us will put their hands to the plough and organise suitable events.

I would like to close by putting all this into its proper context. When I was ordained 25 years ago, these words were spoken about my ordained ministry. I was, “by word and action, to build up the house which is God’s Church. I was to serve Christ the teacher, Priest and Shepherd in his ministry which is to make his own body, the Church, grow into the people of God, a holy temple”. (Rite of Priestly Ordination)

Paul Townsend
Trinity Sunday 2009