Towards the end of 2020 the Archdiocese asked a company of Charted Building Surveyors to carry out a survey of every church, hall, and parish house throughout the Archdiocese. 

Unfortunately, the Report for St John Vianney’s isn’t great. In general terms the three buildings (church, hall and house) are in poor to fair condition. This is especially true of the church building. 

Detailed costs are yet to be obtained, but the total cost for all the work needing done will be no less than £140,000. In addition to this, the Archdiocese have asked that St John Vianney’s repay their loan, which currently sits at around £60,000. This means the total amount of money needed is around £200,000 and the programme of repairs needs to be completed within 5 years.

The Parish Pastoral Council are currently consulting parishioners and looking at various options regarding how best to respond to this. Fr Alex has encouraged everybody to put all their effort into thinking about how we can respond creatively to this challenge. 

Additionally, the Charted Building Surveyors have raised a couple of concerns about potential structural issues, and they will require investigation before we proceed much further, as this could completely change the situation. If you know a structural engineer who could do an initial survey at no, or reduced, cost, could you please email southedclust@btinternet.com.

We would ask for the prayers of everybody across our Cluster faith communities for the Holy Spirit’s guidance at this challenging time.