Anglican Diocese of Cyprus Faces Financial Difficulties
Episcopal News Service. April 30, 1993 [93083C]
The Anglican Diocese of Cyprus and the (Persian) Gulf is at a crossroads between struggling along with limited funds or disintegrating into Arab, American and European ecclesiastical jurisdictions. Bishop John Brown has reported that parish budgets within the diocese were only able to contribute 15.5% in fiscal 1990-91 to support his office and staff headquarters in Nicosia, Cyprus. The "massive injection of funds" by the Jerusalem and Middle East Church Association -- a trust for most Anglican real estate on Cyprus -- "cannot be expected to continue beyond 1995," Brown noted in a report on the situation. Other major overseas donors, such as the Episcopal Church, are unlikely to continue to help support the office in the long run. Created 17 years ago from the former archbishropic of Jerusalem, the Cyprus-Gulf diocese has no endowment. In 1990, Brown launched an appeal for a two million British pound "working capital fund" which would place priests in Iraq and Yemen, add supplementary clergy to the United Arab Emirates and maintain a diocesan office. To date the appeal has brought only $200,000. "I reluctantly come to the conclusion that the gap is too wide to close," he said.