AUSTRALIA
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The finances of the Grafton diocese of the Anglican Church (known elsewhere as the Episcopalian Church or the Church of England) came under the spotlight last week at the third “case study” hearings of the Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, concerning Allan Kitchingman and the North Coast Children’s Home.
The diocese’s motto refers to “caring in the spirit of Christ”, but evidence suggests it was more in the spirit of Mammon, especially when it came to financial assistance for victims of its staff and clergy, who operated its North Coast Children’s Homes.
Management courses always warn of the risk of over-expansion. Apparently, the Grafton diocese had not learnt this lesson. It went into debt of $12 million, through an unsecured loan from investors, to expand its Clarence Valley Anglican School, but found there were not enough enrollments to make it a financially viable venture.
Diocesan Registrar, Anthony Newby, told the Royal Commission that, when he became registrar at Grafton in October 2010, the school debt was not being serviced. An oversight committee was set up to open lines of credit involving other dioceses – “not an easy task as only two, Perth and Adelaide, eventually came on board.” This strategy was needed because the Clarence Valley Anglican School loan was unsecured from the Grafton Diocese Investment Fund, which operated by inviting people to invest on the expectation of a return. The debt-reduction strategy would also mean selling at least $2 million of the diocese’s estimated $200 million asset base.
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