Of course, it wasn’t quite as simple as that. The church in question is run by 30 couples, who serve as the church elders, and who between them chipped in a mere £150,000 to set the ball rolling. I’m not quite sure we would achieve that sort of thing: evangelical churches do, of course, taking the matter of tithing (offering a tenth of ones income) very seriously, but I wonder how much of my precarious savings I would be prepared to hand over for the ‘good of the cause’. Perhaps it’s something I need to ask myself this Lent.

One of the problems of a big church like the Catholic Church is that it is sometimes very difficult to establish a link between financial ‘activity’ and the individual worshipper. Maybe we assume the Vatican, or someone, will provide. Not that parishioners here are not very generous with their money. One possible lesson is that we must always be very ‘up front’ about what we do with our money, and I hope that you do not find the parish secretive in that respect. Certainly we have nothing to hide, and thanks to the good offices of our parish Financial Administrator, our accounts have been deemed to be in good order.

One thing which struck me in the Bradford story was the church’s comment: "We haven’t had any jumble sales or sponsored events; we have banned them as a church because they exhaust the congregation". Let us not disparage the noble efforts of those who do fund-raise, but there is a grain of truth here. It is very easy to become worn out just trying to stand still. One thing we all badly need as contemporary Christians is space and rest. As has been said: "All the ills of modern man come from his inability to remain in quiet in his own room".