Uniting Church parishioners say they are deeply hurt by the sale of 56 Victorian properties as their leaders try to recoup a $56 million debt incurred by last year’s collapse of Acacia College at Mernda North.
Affected churches in north-western suburbs include Glenroy, Brunswick West, Strathmore, Sydenham, Williamstown North and Yarraville.
A kindergarten in Upland Road, Strathmore, will also be sold, as will halls in Williamstown North and Brunswick West.
The head of one of two Moreland Uniting churches forced to shut has slammed the head office’s decision as “brutal”.
The minister of St David’s in Brunswick West, Andrew Vigus, said the decision was “less than Christian”. “We got a phone call and were told they were going. We’ll be out in three months,” he said. “There has never been a letter, personal communication or any form of consultation”
The Uniting Church said it consulted with presbyteries over the past five months to identify properties suitable for sale.
“While this divestment process is a very important decision for the future of the church, we understand it will cause upheaval and upset for some across our community,” synod general secretary Rev Dr Mark Lawrence said.
But Mr Vigus said closing Glenroy’s church would devastate the community. “It’s an appalling, brutal decision,” he said. “They have a substantial congregation who have no other church nearby. The way the church has gone about raising money has been less than Christian. You would almost call it evil.”
St David’s parishioner Graeme Wilde said his grandmother was at the meeting 105 years ago that determined there should be a church in Brunswick West.
“My parents were married there, both were buried from that church and various members of my family have had weddings, funerals and baptisms,” he said.
He said the “arbitrary, dispassionate” way the church authorities selected which churches to sell seemed like a “quick-fix” business decision.
A Uniting Church spokesman said pastoral and relocations support would be offered to presbyteries to ensure they had the resources they needed. The spokesman said the sales will stop once $56 million was raised, meaning some properties may not be sold.
