The Bishop of Leicester urges people to get involved in the campaign.
In 1985 when I was a parish priest in South Essex I came for the first time to Launde Abbey. It was for me (as it is for so many others) a very special first encounter. I was looking after a parish of 40,000 people and I had two young children at the time. The pressure was pretty intense and I needed some space. I had been in the habit of visiting the Taizé community in France for regular retreats, but I was told about Launde Abbey and came to Leicestershire for a couple of days of quietness and peace.
Thereafter I came regularly, often to meet a friend who was ministering in the North of England, and Leicester proved an ideal halfway house. So I was delighted when I first became a Bishop in 1995 to discover that the new Bishop’s training course was to be held at Launde. Six of us came for the inside of a week. We talked and ate and drank and prayed together. We went for walks and we explored what this new ministry was all about. Little did I know that just 3 years later I would be back at Launde as the new Diocesan Bishop of Leicester. So I came to Launde Abbey on the night before my installation in Leicester Cathedral with Wendi and our two adult children, Rachel and Adam. We stayed in the Dairy together and prepared in our own different ways for what was to follow the next day.
Since then I have been coming and going to Launde most weeks. There have been the annual ordination retreats which have been one of the highlights of my year. I have come to Cursillo events, other retreats, annual residential meetings of the Bishop’s Council and the Area Deans, and regular residential meetings of my senior staff team. In addition I have tried to come on four or five occasions a year for a quiet reading day. So Launde is now as it were in my bloodstream. It has been a delight, a nourishment, a window into Heaven, a place of peace and refreshment but sometimes a real worry and a headache!
But just as Launde has fed and nourished me, so it has done for countless others. As I write this, the newspapers are full of the mounting anxieties about swine flu. We have become a very anxious society, worried about our health, worried about our pensions, worried about climate change, worried about our futures. We need to get our worries into perspective and Launde is a place which does that brilliantly for many people.
And Launde has been a significant part of the history of the Church of England in the last half century too. Major national commissions have met here, shaping the future of Church education amongst other things. There have been selection conferences for the newly ordained and any number of significant national gatherings. Perhaps one of the most important was the commission which met in 1980 at Launde to appoint Bishop Robert Runcie, then Bishop of St Albans, as the new Archbishop of Canterbury.
In my ten years as Bishop of Leicester the Abbey has continued to grow. The new Warden’s house was just nearing completion when I arrived and has changed the pattern of the Warden’s life and indeed the staff structure of the Abbey. Six years ago I felt it right to establish a more formal Management Committee to replace the old House Committee and this has led to the development of a Business Plan and a self-sustaining budget for the House. As a result of that, the Stable Block was restored and developed a couple of years ago.
But now we face the greatest challenge of all. We must ensure that the restoration of the main house goes ahead and that Launde can continue to be a resource to the prayers and spiritual journeys of so many people. But the costs are intimidating especially for us in the Diocese of Leicester. Although our ecumenical partners wish us well, they are not able to bear the weight of the £2.5 million we need. Our partner Dioceses in Peterborough and Derby wish us well and are prepared to loan us money but cannot make donations at the level which we need if Launde is to survive and flourish. So the real “heavy lifting” has to be done by the Leicester Diocesan Board of Finance, providing a substantial proportion of the total cost.
As Bishop I have a responsibility to ensure that this does not threaten the finances of the Diocese in the long term. Accordingly I have felt it right to encourage an appeal to everyone who cares about Launde, who wishes it well and who understands the really significant, iconic impact of this place on our common life. Already I have written some 3,500 letters. The Friends of Launde are doing everything they can to support this place with fundraising events and contributions. At the time of writing, we have raised £340,000 since launching the appeal at Easter. We have reason to hope that a further £200,000 will be donated soon. But the major effort must go on.
Recently a colleague has returned from our partner Diocese in Tanzania. She reports a Church struggling under extreme pressure. Most of the pastors have not been paid for several months. There is widespread hunger and thirst. We live in much more prosperous and comfortable circumstances. We are faced with a challenge to our generosity and our priorities by Launde Abbey. This house which represents a centre of prayer and journeying with God now also represents God’s challenge to his people here. So many people have told me that it is unthinkable that Launde will close. But not all who have said that have felt able to make a donation. As you read this please will you think and pray immediately about whether you can make a further gesture towards the future of Launde. Will you search your soul and ask whether you have done everything possible to maintain this great house for future generations? And will you respond immediately by sending a further donation now to: Save Launde Abbey Appeal, 8 Peacock Lane, Leicester LE1 5PX.
Thank you and may God reward our sacrificial giving with a new and much blessed future for this much loved house.
