Church in Wales in Danger of Losing Charitable Status

The Archbishop of Wales the Most Reverend Barry Morgan is leader of the Tomorrow’s Wales political action group set up in response to the Richards Inquiry into Welsh Devolution to try to change the way we are governed. His involvement caused much controversy amongst the Church; some Bishops strongly opposed his actions claiming that the church should stay out of politics.

While the Church is a charity and as such must comply with charity law that clearly states its activities must be 100% charitable, however, it has exempt status under the Charity Act 1960. This means that any legal challenge to the charitable activities of the church could only be achieved by legal action through the Chancery Division of the High Court by an interested party. Under the Church in Wales Constitution, a person in receipt of communion can make a complaint to the Church in Wales Governing Body. However, both avenues of complaint are extremely complex and expensive with little chance of success.

Under the new Charity Act 2006, the exempt status will be removed; all Religious groups, Churches and Dioceses with an income in excess of £100,000 will be required to register with the Charity Commission. They will have their charitable activities regulated by an appointed regulator who has the power to remove charitable status whereby they have ceased to be a defined charity under the Act. With regard to cases of fraud, the charity would be required to take appropriate action to redress the matter and any criminal offences reported to the police.

The Church in Wales’s legal department was asked to comment on being served notice that a complaint from Trevor Mayes of the Lamp Post will be made under the Charity Act 2006. However, they declined to reply. The law clearly states that being involved in a political pressure group is a not a charitable purpose and therefore the Church has ceased to become a charity. Mr Mayes said “We are a secular country, if members of the clergy want to get involved in politics they should stand for election, that way if we do not like what they are doing we can always vote them out of office.”