Money Fisher: Cathedral Giving Campaign
Money Fisher: Cathedral Giving Campaign
Kenneth Padley
Sunday 22 June 2025 1st Sunday After Trinity
The satirical magazine Private Eye is filled with characters whose first and second names form unfortunate or amusing combinations. Spurious columnists include Phil Space and Polly Filler. In the latest edition, a new correspondent called Sybil Waugh reports on the activities of the American National Guard in Los Angeles, and an ancient equivalent called Aggie Memnon draws comparisons between contemporary events and the Trojan Wars. A host of similar examples beloved of naughty schoolboys are probably not appropriate for reference in the pulpit.
Just occasionally, such characters are real. And one of them from Georgian times is buried here in the Cathedral, near the font. Mr Fisher was a Salisbury-based ‘architect, surveyor, carpenter and joiner’[1] – and from his birth in 1756 to his death in 1837 rejoiced in the first name of… ‘Money’. Money Fisher. I wonder what his parents thought they were doing when they had him baptised.
Friends, it is my privilege to stand before you today as a money fisher. Because today is our annual giving campaign. Giving campaigns are good practice in churches, an opportunity for congregations to hear about the finances of their faith community, and for an invitation to be extended to support the life of the church in the year ahead. We have been reestablishing an annual pattern for these campaigns in recent years, and are now also able to align them with the Cathedral’s financial year which runs from April to March. This allows us to share news about what has been achieved in the previous twelve months, and to look with intent at the tasks of the year ahead.
In the last year we have progressed many projects on our built fabric: the ongoing restoration of the Burne-Jones window and north cloisters, installation of LED lighting, and the replacement of the roof on the refectory. All this of course is on top of the established round of soul-inspiring worship and world-class choral music.
Although there is no silver bullet for Church growth we are delighted that such ministries are bearing fruit: in line with many churches at the present time, the Cathedral continues to see increased numbers at festivals and regular Sunday worship, as well as strong interest among adults and teenagers who want to explore faith through baptism and confirmation.
While a number of these ministries and projects attract external funding, if you have been able to support us financially in any way in 2024-25, thank you for this participation in our shared witness and service.
Moving into the current financial year (and years ahead) the Cathedral will continue to implement our Strategic Plan to be a place where faith is inspired, which offers welcome all, which supports and develops staff and volunteers, and which promotes social justice, including through reducing our carbon consumption.
At this point I should glance sideways at a couple of tropes which are often rolled out when priests start talking about money.
- Firstly, local churches – cathedrals included – are not funded by the government or the national Church: each is responsible for raising the money that we need. Some English Cathedrals are in dire financial straits. That is not our context in Salisbury and we are committed to minimising such risks by maintaining strong and diverse income streams. It is great to be able to report that, since our last giving campaign, we have seen a long-term uplift of 15% in planned regular giving.
- Secondly, although we are blessed in Salisbury to have an endowment left by our forebears, spending from the endowment (mainly the resources of the Close) is highly restricted because we are morally and legally charged with curating these long-term assets for future generations. Our operating funds for everyday activities are much tighter and – in honesty – are set to get tighter because of current headwinds such as the increase in National Insurance.
So I invite and encourage your support in the year ahead. There is no formula for how much anyone should give. Each must determine what is right for their circumstances and involvement – and both of these change over time. I am also mindful that many here give to specific projects such as music and maintenance (including through the Friends) or have split commitments between this church and other places of worship.
But with these caveats, I offer some comparative statistics by way of reflection and challenge.
- In 2023 the average adult worshipper in the diocese of Salisbury gave £14 per week to the church where they worship.
- More locally, within the churches of this city, this figure rose to £20.
- Obtaining comparisons from Cathedral data is not an exact science and we are not comparing apples with apples, not least because we have a high proportion of visitors and, as I say, some of our worshippers donate to specific projects – thank you again if this is you. Nonetheless, by the most generous number crunching I can make, regular unrestricted giving in the Cathedral per average adult Sunday worshipper in 2024 was… £10.
The uncomfortable truth is that, collectively, we are getting more for less than our brothers and sisters in the parishes of our diocese.
In sharing this challenge, I invite you to consider method as much as money. Each and every gift is really really welcome – but I always encourage committed Christians to support the ministry of their church through giving which is regular and planned. Cash, cards, cheques and online are OK for one-off gifts. But support of the Church by those who consider themselves regular worshippers should be a considered sum at the start of each month, not a rummaging in our pockets at the end of each week.
The best way for most people to make regular planned giving to their local church is through the Parish Giving Scheme, PGS. PGS is a Church of England Direct Debit platform that channels every penny to the donor’s designated church. It also has the added benefits of speeding up Gift Aid payments and includes an annual reminder to consider an inflationary uplift.
The Cathedral adopted the Parish Giving Scheme ahead of our 2023 Giving Campaign and I am thrilled that 78 regular donors are now choosing to support us in this way. If you are still on the Cathedral’s earlier Standing Order scheme, I encourage you to join those of us who have come over to PGS. This is because PGS is the easiest and most efficient way of making regular, faithful, inflation-proofed gifts to your church.
Full information about giving to the Cathedral is on a letter from the Dean which the stewards will give to every adult as you leave. This letter will also be circulated electronically in the days ahead so that we reach as many of our regular worshippers as possible. For those watching online, details about how to support us can be found under the ‘More’ tab of our website. Along with my colleagues, including Jilly Wright, our Development Manager, I would welcome questions about this important part of our life together.
As a money fisher I find myself in good company. Jesus often encouraged his audience to think about their value and values, and to make best use of their talents and resources. There is a dialogue in the background of today’s gospel between the intrinsic worth of the man set free from his demons and restored to community, and the villagers who appear more concerned by the cost of the pigs which are lost. And there is a connected message from St Paul in the reading to the Galatians, that the grace of God in Christ is open to all, Jew and Greek, slave and free, not something which can be bought with earthly riches, but it an overflowing generosity which invites response from the heirs of God’s promise to Abraham.
By way of summary, I warmly encourage you to do two things today:
- Firstly, here or/and in your local church, please sign up for regular planned giving through the Parish Giving Scheme – or transition your giving to PGS if you currently give through an earlier method.
- Secondly, please review your level of giving – which is an altogether more nuanced message than the apocryphal Vicar whom I’m told concluded his stewardship sermon by saying, ‘I’ve upped my giving – up yours’.
Thank you for your support.
[1] Cf. Salisbury Civic Society, September 2018, page 7.