Anglican church properties across Australia are being prepared for sale to help fund the church's obligations to victims of historic child sexual abuse. The move points to the financial scale of the redress owed to survivors, with parishes facing the prospect of losing buildings that have stood at the centre of their communities for generations.
The process is well advanced in the Anglican Diocese of North Queensland, which entered receivership last year. According to the coverage, about three dozen properties in that diocese are expected to go on the market as part of the effort to meet the church's obligations. Among the buildings affected is St Mark's church in Townsville, where congregants have been saying farewell before it is put up for sale.
For many in the pews, the closures have been painful to accept. One congregant said the sales had to happen because of things in the past and that somebody had to pay for it. Even so, the prospect of shutting down churches has been described as a sad act, carrying a sense of loss and grief for those who have worshipped in them for years.
The impact is felt most sharply by those with personal ties to the buildings. Some of the churches expected to be sold hold the interred remains of relatives, and parishioners with family laid to rest at those sites have spoken of how distressing the prospect is. One said they would be really devastated, not only for themselves but for the many others in the community in the same position.
Advocates for survivors have framed the sales within the wider goal of justice for victims of abuse. They say financial compensation is an important part of healing for those who suffered, and that it matters for survivors to know the church is meeting its responsibilities to them rather than leaving the harm unaddressed.
At the same time, advocates have stressed that the burden should not fall on those the church failed. They say it is important that victims do not feel responsible for the church's financial position, even as the institution sells properties and closes churches to fund the compensation it owes. The closures in North Queensland offer an early sign of how that reckoning is reshaping the Anglican church in Australia.