to be really quite disgusted with the Church?

[CopperHandle]

Visited Norwich Cathedral and the place was plastered in begging signs asking for donations. They were boasting that it costs almost £4000 a DAY to run the building, not including major repairs which regularly run into six figures in a year.

For an institute that preaches charitable giving, putting others before self etc etc is it not massively hypocritical to run in such a way that is so incredibly costly?
£4,000 a day for a single building... so there are more than 80 cathedrals in the UK - just on this alone - how many people could be helped with this amount of money?!

AIBU to think this is massively hypocritical and, well, just plain wrong?

So what should we do, leave them to ruin?

YABU the church attracts tourists and will cost a lot to maintain. People might choose to give money for that purpose.

They are historical buildings visited by many people. Our Cathedral doesn't let you in without a donation. Nothing hypocritical about it.

Knock 'em all down and conduct worship in tents, say I.

YABU, what do you want them to do? Airbrush reality?

It's not boasting though is it it's just stating that's how much it costs to keep such a huge building.. and the fact you went to visit surely hints that people do quite like cathedrals! Cathedrals are steeped in history. What do you propose they do? Let them fall into ruin?

Why did you visit? To see the good works they do, or to look at the building? If the latter, i assume you acknowledge that it makes an important architectural/historical/spiritual contribution to the city.

Who do you think should pay for its preservation if not a) people who visit it b) the church?

How can it possibly cost 4000 pounds every day?

If they left them to decay (which would actually be dangerous and end up costing money to pull them down) they wouldn't have an extra £4000 a day or whatever though - they make that from visitors and fundraisers and stuff to maintain the historic buildings. They could hardly just have an empty space in the middle of a city with a sign that said 'knocked the cathedral down, please visit anyway and we'll give the money to the poor'.

I'm in no way religious but these buildings are part of our heritage and I think they should be maintained.

Churches are really just businesses these days, if they are not a tourist attraction they should be sold off or made profitable. We need homes more than we need empty churches crumbling into dereliction.

Worshippers can always enter for free - either for service only or bua arrangement from parish priest to cathedral authorities.

Ordinary tourists may have to pay or will find donations actively solicited (like many other tourist attractions)

I live in Norwich and it's a beautiful building They do lots to help the community and see no reason why when I visit, I can't fling the odd pound into a bowl to help its up keep.

I can see where you're coming from but these are historical buildings and part of our national heritage. Who will maintain them if the church doesn't?

I have more of a problem with the evangelical church in our town which has just spent a huge amount of money on building a sparkling new (nondescript) church close to a very deprived area. I find that pretty hypocritical.

Don't go to the Vatican, Op.

There are various Hindu/Sikh temples and mosques around London that need £10k per day to run but they serve food to the homeless 3 times a day (or in the case of Iskcon send devotees to give out free meals in towns/universities), host free nurseries/play groups etc. Maybe they're doing similar work?

Why is this a surprise to you?

I'm not there to worship I just like admiring the lovely building and obviously a building like a cathedral requires a lot of upkeep and I am more than happy to donate for that.

Should they be left to rot instead?

How can it possibly cost 4000 pounds every day?

Because it will be the cost averaged over the year. Large-scale maintenance like rewiring or replacing a roof could be hundreds of thousands, so broken down it averages out at £4000 a day. I'm not religious at all but appreciate cathedrals and other historic places of worship as the historic and socially important buildings which they are.

Also rates, staffing, electricity etc etc etc.

I think maybe it doesn't mean £4K a day literally? Does it mean instead e.g. the roof needs fixing once every 10 years for £100k etc, and then they average it to a daily rate to help people understand? I very much doubt the staff get paid £4K a day for example.

Because it will be the cost averaged over the year. Large-scale maintenance like rewiring or replacing a roof could be hundreds of thousands, so broken down it averages out at £4000 a day

OP specifically says that it is not including large scale maintenance and repairs. So without that, how can it possibly cost 4k a day?

Not sure how much our local church's upkeep is. But it's huge and was built during the famine, you know when people where actually starving on the streets here.
Priorities.

That's quite economical for a cathedral. Most that I have been to cost around £1 pounds a year. In addition to paying for staff, to clean, cut grass, give sermons, do day to day maintence, many cathedrals also run charitable programs/schools. These buildings are incredibly old and an immensely valuable part of our cultural history. Without proper looking after they will fall apart.

*£1 million

I can see where you are coming from, but old buildings are very expensive to maintain so I understand why they need to do it in order to preserve it for the future.

What I really hate is ticketed entry into churches or cathedrals. York Minster, St Paul's... so sad. You can still get in for masses and evensong etc for free but I think it puts off those on lower incomes from just going in to pray or see how it feels to be in a place of worship.

Heating, lighting, water, staffing, producing visitor info leaflets / notices, cleaning, maintenance.... all cost money. And the more visitors you have, wanting to look around and using their loos etc, the more it costs.