GOVERNMENT HAS agreed to pay the Anglican Church at least $0.5 million annually in rent for 15 school buildings owned by the Anglican Diocese.Hartley Richards, chairman of the Barbados Diocesan trustees, confirmed the agreement in a follow-up interview with BARBADOS BUSINESS AUTHORITY, noting that this was the figure recently negotiated with Government for continuous rental payments.He said Government was occupying the schools, which were property of the Anglican Diocese, and these school grounds totalled approximately 560 000 squarefeet of land. Richards noted that the Anglican Church was not just intent on generating income, but needed the funds to sustain itself and support its community outreach programmes. “Our priests are very poorly paid. When they retire, there needs to be some kind of retirement fund that would be able to assist them so that they don’t then become destitute,” he said.Moreover, Richards pointedout that the Barbados Diocesan Trustees, which are the corporate arm of the Anglican Diocese that manages its property and real estate investments, had approximately 14 acres of land at its disposal for development.“What we want to be able to do is to give Anglicans and other Barbadians an opportunity to invest in the church properties and church finances. If we can get off the ground what we have in mind, what we’re looking to do is to provide something like a bond issue,” he said. (SR)
