1. The Community of the Resurrection is an ANGLICAN religious community. As it says on their Companions website (www.mirfieldcompanions.org.uk) "it is fully part of the church of England". It is, in fact, under the jurisdiction of the Anglican Bishop of Wakefield and has the Anglican Bishop of Norwich as its "visitor" (= inspector). It requires an Anglican Bishop (or, possibly, the Archbishop of Canterbury) to release any of its members from life vows.

2. This Anglican Community has Robert Mercer as one of its BRETHREN (i.e. an actual "brother" entitled to use the initials CR after his name) and he is now a fully ordained ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST. This in itself is absolutely newsworthy, not least because Roman Catholics do not recognise the validity of Anglican confirmation, Anglican orders (most of the brethren are ordained as Anglican priests) the Anglican Eucharist etc and they insist that all authority comes from the Pope. This man does not just happen to be a Roman Catholic believer but, now, an active worker in the Roman Catholic church.

3. Robert Mercer himself has publicly stated "I desire and hope to remain a member of CR until I die". This in itself is absolutely newsworthy given that he is now a fully ordained member of a church which rejects, as stated above, Anglican beliefs.

4. The Community of the Resurrection has recently undergone a £2 million major refurbishment of its church, which it has only been able to pay for by borrowing from its own funds earmarked for other purposes. Of this £2m, approximately £650,000 has been donated by its own friends, associates and Companions (it has found no major donor), these people being ordinary working and retired people (some lay people, i.e. not ordained into the Anglican church and some Anglican priests, deacons and even Bishops) who have donated their own funds and, in some cases, their own goods and chattels (for auction) to the Community. The Community continues to struggle to raise funds to repay its internal borrowing and to continue into the future. Aside from a major auction, it has held a number of fund raising events (e.g. wine tasting evenings, concerts etc) and is trying to maximise the income from its Mirfield site by, for example, renting out spaces to allotment holders, hiring out some of its buildings for wedding receptions etc.

5. Against this background, brother Robert Mercer CR who is a Roman Catholic is living rent free in an apartment purchased specifically for him in Worthing and owned by the Community. This, too, is absolutely newsworthy as not only is this charitable trust asset being used by a person who is a practising Priest of another denomination, one which does not recognise the validity of Anglican sacraments etc, it is also not providing any income to the Community in times of extreme financial difficulty.

6. The Charity Commission has investigated this and points out two things:

(a) Part of CR's objects state

“Provided that the charity is established to act as an association of Christians who desire to follow the gospel life after the pattern of those recorded in the acts of the apostles, of whom it is said that "they continued steadfastly in the apostles' teaching and in the fellowship, in the breaking of the bread and in the prayers and the company of those who believed were of one heart and one soul, and no one said that any of these things which he possessed was his own, but they have everything in common".

By allowing Robert Mercer to remain as a Brother, this fundamental objective is being broken as Anglicans and Roman Catholics are not "in fellowship" nor are they of "one heart and one soul" (given the differences outlined above [and they certainly cannot break bread together - Mercer will not attend Anglican Eucharists and Anglicans are not permitted to partake of the bread and wine at Catholic Eucharists]); and

(b) any decision to allow a fully ordained Roman Catholic priest exclusive use of this property for no rent has to be taken by the trustees and must be fully justifiable.