Uniting Church parishioners in Williamstown North are reeling from the news that their 130-year-old property will be sold to help repay a $56 million debt incurred by last year’s collapse of Acacia College at Mernda North.
Up to 56 of the church’s properties will be sold in Victoria, including the second manse at Pilgrim Uniting Church in Yarraville.
St Stephens church elder Ted Peck said the Williamstown North congregation was devastated by the sale of its church and hall.
“We’re shellshocked,” he said. “We’re all devastated by the shortness of the notice.
“We’ve tried to notify all the other people we share our property with, the jujitsu and playgroups and that sort of stuff, to give them as much warning as we can because the word is we have to be gone before Christmas.’’
Church leaders told parishioners at Sunday mass the church would be advertised for sale on Monday. Nathan Johnson, whose children attend the church and hall regularly, said it wasn’t right the church had been targeted.
“No one in the congregation, or no one even right up to the committee, has had a say,” he said.
“They’ve been told this is what’s happening and this is when it’s happening.”
Yarraville’s minister, Reverend Colin Honey, said his congregation had not been consulted over the sale of a dwelling used by visiting Ethiopian priests and bishops.
“For me, the most fascinating aspect is that the entire process has taken place without a single word of consultation with the congregation or me,” he said.
Synod general secretary Reverend Doctor Mark Lawrence said: “Congregations and agencies impacted by the sales process will receive income replacement and/or relocation funding and ongoing pastoral support.
“We realise this decision will have ramifications in the wider community, but it is essential for the long-term development of the church’s work.”
