LONDON'S CHURCHES RISE AGAIN

Chronicle (Levin), 12 June 1946, Page 2

LONDON'S CHURCHES RISE AGAIN

(By Dr. Geo. Gretton) O11 the day that Mr. Morrison came back from America after his big effort to organise a world war against famine, the Bishop of London announced a comprehensive plan to rebuild or restore hundreds of blitzed churches in his dioceses, Of 701 churches in the London area, 91 were totally destroyed by enemy action during the war. A further 533 were more or less heavily damaged. Thus, only about one London church in ten escaped the fury of air bombardment. Some 'of these have been repaired, but the reconstruction plan which has been worked out involves the huge task of completely rebuilding 50 bombed churches and repairing or restoring about 500 more. This is a costlv ! undertaking; repairs to St. Paul's Cathedral alone, which received relatively small damage, will cost a quarter of a million pounds. The damaged churches include ; some of the finest architectural j monuments of London. Historicai ! associations, however, are not the primary purpose of the reconstrucjtion plan. The function of the ' churches is to focus and minister to

J the religious lif e of the community. jlndeed, the plan goes beyond the (scope of architectural reconstrucj tion. It provides for the training oi clergymen and for the modernisation of church schools, together with ' general reorganisation of sites to bring parishes into line with , the changed needs of London to- ! day- . •. i Even before the war big changes ! in distribution of population- are going on. The total population of the London Diocese increased between the two wars by not far short of 1,000,000, but the popula- ; tion of central districts — more and more given over to offices and business places — was falling. There was a movement into London from the provinces, and simultaneously a movement out of Central London ■ towards the suburbs. Thus great new communities grew up in outer London round what had been vil- , lages with one or two churches. 1 ■ An attempt was made to deal : with this problem by creating a | new diocese in North-West London, i and by a plan to build 45 new j churches. Before the project was ihalf completed the war came. The Lnew plan aims to build 40 new churches, as well as restoring a big ! proportion of the blitzed ones. The lnew churches will be distributed jaccordingly to the present day I needs of London's people and a [number of destroyed churches will j not be rebuilt, so that the total result will be a pattern which will give over 10,000 people access to a church and to the religious lil'e it provides. At the same time the schools in the London area controlled by the Church of England will be reorganised. Between 30 and 40 wib be handed over to the State in j order that the remaining 170 can bf ! effectively modernised and maintained. During the war the number of clergymen becoming ordained was very small, so that there is also a shortage of personnel in the churches. This will be remedied since no fewer than 4000 ex-ser-vicemen have offered themselves for the Ministry. The training of those who are selected will necessiI tate considerable funds. I The comprehensive London I church plan will, of course, be : mainly financed by payments due from the War Damage Commission and hy the sale of sites of blitzed churches which are not being rebuilt, but additional sums will be j required. The Bishop of London

hopes to raise these by an appeal for £750,000 by voluntary contribution. Perhaps the most dangerous aftermath of war is the possible disintegration of moral values. Families are broken up — particularly. was this the case in the I'nited Kingdom where, apart from the mobilisation of between 5-6,000,000 in the forces, Millions were- evacuated, factories were dispersed, and 2,000,000 additional women were brought into industry. At such a time, the Christian ideas and standards for which the British people went to war might well be sacrificed, and the will powers of Nazism might achieve a posthumous triumph. Victory at such a price would be defeat, and it is to prevent such a catastrophe that the church in London is preparing for a physical and spiritual renewal. Side by side with the important minority religious communities of Nonconformists and Catholics, it is putting its house in order. By so doing it can fortify the moral leadership which is beiiig demanded of the British peoples more urgently to-day than ever in history.