EGN NEWS DESK
A former Church of England priest has claimed that curiosity in baptism amongst asylum seekers “melted away” after he requested them to exhibit their dedication to the church.
Rev Matthew Firth was giving proof to the Home Affairs Select Committee on Tuesday about his expertise as a priest at St Cuthbert’s and Holy Trinity in Darlington, the place he served between 2018 and 2020 earlier than becoming a member of the Free Church of England.
The committee was listening to proof on asylum seeker conversions to Christianity after it was recommended that church buildings – and particularly the Church of England – could also be complicit in using pretend conversions to recreation the system.
Rev Firth stated that in his two years at St Cuthbert’s, “cohorts” of round six to seven primarily younger Iranian and Syrian males had been being dropped at him for baptism each few weeks.
He informed the committee that after his arrival to the church, he honoured baptisms that had already been booked however “pressed a pause button” on any others as a result of he discovered the numbers “shocking”.
“You spot a sample and also you suppose, dangle on, there’s one thing happening right here,” he stated.
He stated that after introducing a extra “rigorous” course of to verify they had been coming to church repeatedly and getting concerned within the lifetime of the church, the numbers displaying an curiosity in baptism “fell off a cliff”.
“That was the factor that form of made the numbers fall off a cliff in a way as a result of these folks form of melted away actually. They weren’t actually desirous to get entangled with the lifetime of the church a lot after I requested them to take action,” he informed the committee.
Speaking later on the listening to, the Bishop of Chelmsford, Guli Francis-Dehqani, denied that the Church of England was permitting asylum seekers to rip-off the system however stated she wish to see clergy tips reviewed within the close to future.
“It’s definitely true that there are some church buildings which can be experiencing a bigger variety of asylum seekers than others – locations like Liverpool and others … I consider that is largely as a result of that is the place asylum seekers are themselves positioned,” she stated.
“Our church buildings reply to native wants nevertheless it presents itself and if it occurs to be in an space the place there are giant numbers of asylum seekers – who by the way, within the form of more and more hostile surroundings, it is maybe not shocking that in the event that they discover a place of heat and welcome might be drawn to it.
“But that is a completely separate situation to saying that we’re form of rapidly and simply and freely baptising giant numbers with the intention to rip-off the asylum course of which is correctly the accountability of the federal government, the Home Office, the courts, the tribunals.
“We must play our half truthfully and in truth however with that extension of Christian heat and hospitality and welcome that’s our accountability.”
