The Archbishops’ Council and the Church Commissioners have launched an investigation into the finances of the 2008 Lambeth Conference in England.John Ormerod, a former senior partner of Deloitt, will chair the inquiry into the estimated £1 to £2 million deficit run up by the July 16 to Aug 3 gathering of 617 Anglican bishops in Canterbury.
The committee’s brief will be to investigate how the Conference came to be so dramatically over budget, and to examine ways of eliminating the debt.
Two representatives of the Archbishops’ Council, the Bishop of Leicester, the Rt Rev Tim Stevens, and Christina Baxter will be on the inquiry board along with Third Church Estates Commissioner Timothy Walker. A report is expected within nine months.
The total deficit for the Conference has yet to be made public by the organizing committee.
Conference spokesman Archbishop Phillip Aspinall told the media at Lambeth that he had been informed by the organizing committee that the budget would be made public after the books were closed in mid August.
On Aug 7, the officers of the Lambeth Conference Company, who include ACC Secretary General Kenneth Kearon and Lambeth Chief of Staff Chris Smith met with the Archbishops’ Council to brief them of the Conference’s inability to pay its debts as they came due.
Following an Aug 11 meeting with the Board of Governors of the Church Commissioners, the Church of England agreed to extend a temporary interest free £600,000 loan to the Lambeth Conference Corporation while it attempted to cover the shortfall through a fundraising campaign.
According to a January 2008 internal conference document the budget for the Lambeth Conference was £4.4 million and the Lambeth Spouses’ Conference was £1.2 million, excluding the costs of travel to the conference.
Asked how the costs would be covered on Aug 3 Dr. Rowan Williams said “we are looking at various routes to meet what looks like a shortfall at this stage. We knew this would be difficult. I don’t think I can go into details because I don’t have the direct management of that question.”
Dr. Williams added “it’s just that’s not my particular responsibility at the moment, although I’m rather concerned about it.”
In a statement released on Aug 8, Canon Kearon said “the projection of a deficit in the immediate period following the Conference was always recognized,” and that “the shortfall in funding is unclear as bills come in to be settled, but it is likely to be approaching £1 million.”
“The shortfall is being addressed as agreed by the continuing fund raising programme” he noted.
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(Source: RI)