The residents of
Alexandra in Victoria believe the phrase 'stand and deliver' is alive
and well in 2018 but the surprise is that the order is coming from a Bishop of the
Anglican Church.
Bishop John Parkes from
the Diocese of Wangaratta is leading a move to forcibly merge the
Kellock Lodge aged care facility in Alexandra with the St. Johns aged
care facility in Wangaratta. Both the facilities are in the Diocese of Wangaratta.
At a standing room only
public protest meeting held in the Alexandra town hall, over 300
residents of the community expressed outrage at what was taking
place. Some 30 years ago a local family donated land to the Anglican
Church for the purpose of caring for the elderly of the district. The
church was not asked to provide any funds for the development of the
facility and it never did. The church has never been asked for any
money over the following 30 years and it has never given.
At the public meeting
speakers stated that the facility in Wangaratta is in a financially
precarious position and the motive for the move is to incorporate a
stated nine million dollars held in cash assets by the Alexandra
facility.
The residents of
Alexandra are fearful the Diocese of Wangaratta may have the legal
rite to take such action but the morality of a christian organisation
making such a move came under heavy criticism at the public meeting.
The meeting unanimously voted:-
A. That this public
meeting of the Alexandra community rejects any moves to shift control
and management of Kellock Lodge and its assets out of Alexandra into
a new new company based in Wangaratta.
B. That this public
meeting requests the Kellock Board to investigate whether any avenues
exist for the transfer of the land to an appropriate community based
entity.
From
the mood of the meeting it seems clear the name Bishop John Parkes
will never be forgotten in Alexandra but for all the wrong
reasons. All Churches are struggling to maintain public relevance in
the modern world, the Anglican church in Alexandra may suffer a community backlash from which it does not recover.
