Three Douglas churches are to unite to form a single area under one priest, supported by two vicars. 

This comes as the Church of England has made moves to rationalise its costs in what is the smallest diocese in the British Isles.

Due to be laid before Tynwald in January, the Douglas Pastoral Scheme will see St George and All Saints, St Matthew and St Thomas be combined to form the united benefice of South Douglas.

This does not mean that any of the churches are set to close. 

The new benefice will be led by Venerable Irene Cowell, the current priest in charge of St George and All Saints. 

In the item before the Tynwald Register of Business, it says that ‘two other ministers, each of whom shall have the title of vicar and a status equal to that of an incumbent of a benefice’.

Those two vicars will be Reverend Elizabeth Hull (St Thomas) and Reverend Michael Brydon (St Matthew).

The change in Douglas follows on from the announcement in October that northern parishes were to merge.

The parishes of Bride, Lezayre and North Ramsey and of Maughold and South Ramsey, were united to form Ramsey and the North-East.

Both of these changes come into force from January 1. 

The future of the Church of England and the Diocese of Sodor and Man has been under consideration for some time.

In 2020, a report into the future of church buildings said that the diocese has to be ‘realistic about the number of buildings we can sustain’.

That report also urged the church to identify assets that could be sold.

It said: ‘These are churches with small congregations but which would be easily sold for a fair market price, the funds to form a kitty to maintain “hub churches”. 

‘They may be sustainable at present, and we are not recommending a whole scale closure and sale of these buildings immediately, but if their market value exceeds their value to the mission of God then the church commissioners cannot justify the cost of keeping them open.’

Earlier this year, a follow up to that report was looking at the future of St Stephen’s church in Sulby, as well as St Mary de Ballaugh and Old Church, Ballaugh.

The terms of reference for that was termed as a ‘localised management analysis of perspectives, ideas and future options for the above churches’.

However, the outcome of this review has not yet been made public.

The Church of England is the Isle of Man’s established church. That means that the Bishop automatically has a say on our laws as a Member of the Legislative Council.

In last year’s census, 54.7% of people in the Isle of Man said that they were Christian. This would include all denominations, not just Anglicans.