The Tasmanian Anglican Bishop, Dr Richard Condie has not provided a guarantee that St Matthias’ Church can be saved from sale.
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The Windermere church was confirmed in June, at the meeting of the church’s Synod, as one of 108 buildings that would be sold to fund the church’s $8 million involvement in the national redress scheme for sexual abuse survivors.
Members of the parish, and the wider community, are in the middle of an effort to raise $45,000 to save the church from sale.
It has raised about $25,000 so far, mostly through direct donations.
Bishop Condie would not confirm on Thursday that the effort would stop the church from being sold.
“Our objective is to raise the $8 million required to fund our redress obligations, and we will be pleased if this can be achieved without the unnecessary sale of property,” he said. “I cannot comment on individual cases like St Matthias' [at] Windermere as this would compromise the integrity of the process.”
The church was previously evaluated as being worth about $200,000, with 25 per cent of the sale price slated to go toward the redress scheme.
The remainder 75 per cent would go back into the church community under the Anglican Diocese of Tasmania’s plan.
Holy Trinity Anglican parish Archdeacon Dane Courtney reiterated his belief that the church would be saved if the $45,000 was raised.
“It’s difficult to say that there is an ironclad promise, but the general position is that if we are able to raise the money in another way, we will,” he said.