One bishop said the Church of England was suffering a “financial and spiritual institutional sickness” AlamyNorthern regions of the Church of England have been left to struggle financially while southern dioceses prosper, a bishop has said, calling the divide an “institutional sickness”. The Diocese of Leeds, the largest, is facing a financial crisis. A deficit of £3 million will force it to lay off staff and close its pension scheme. The Bishop of Burnley, the Right Rev Philip North, said on Twitter: “A northern diocese [is] in crisis because of a debt of less than 1 per cent of the funds held by some southern dioceses. This ‘crisis’ is no more than a symptom of a much deeper financial and spiritual institutional sickness.”He was backed by the Bishop of Liverpool, the Right Rev Paul Bayes, who said: “We need…

Source: The Times August 01, 2018 03:45 UTC