Polish community in uproar over order’s plan to sell Fawley Court
By Mark Greaves
16 May 2008

The Marian Fathers say they can no longer afford to maintain Fawley Court, Henley-on-Thames

Poles have become embroiled in a row with the Congregation of Marian Fathers over plans to sell a £22 million mansion in Oxfordshire.

The Marian Fathers put Fawley Court, Henley-on-Thames, on the market last month after negotiations to pass it on to the Polish community at a discount rate broke down.

Protesters say the decision to sell the property is a betrayal of the Polish migrant community who raised most of the money to buy it in the first place. They argue that Fawley Court is a central part of Polish culture in Britain and that the Marian Fathers should act as trustees for the wider Polish community.

The Marian Fathers, meanwhile, say they cannot afford to maintain the building and that the Polish community has not yet offered any realistic plans for its future.

The vast 17th-century property was bought in 1953 in a run-down state after it had been used as a base for military intelligence during the Second World War.

The Marian Fathers turned it into a boarding school for boys which was supposed to be the Polish equivalent of Eton. But falling numbers of pupils led to the school's closure in 1986. It has since been used for conferences, weddings and retreats, and its Whitsun fairs still draw thousands of Polish families each year.

The property was put on the market last month and has had 180 inquiries and 15 viewings already. Over the last few weeks Britain's Polish newspaper Dziennik Polski has been inundated with letters and has published a petition against the sale. Its editor, Jaroslaw Kozminski, said the Polish community felt "abandoned".

Several Polish organisations have joined forces to try to persuade the Marian Fathers to retain Fawley Court for the benefit of Poles.

Jan Sikorski, chairman of the Relief Society for Poles, said that people would be "disgusted" if Fawley Court was not kept in Polish hands.

"If there isn't a working compromise with the Polish community as represented by these organisations then not only would it discredit the Marian Fathers, it would discredit the Church as well," he said.

Mr Sikorski said the Marian Fathers had walked out of negotiations to offer the property at a discount to Poles before putting it on the market.

The two sides were unable to reach an agreement over price after the Marian Fathers' offer of just over £14 million had been rejected.

Mr Sikorski explained that some Poles felt the Marian Fathers had waited until the founding donors were too old to protest before announcing the sale. "It is legitimate to speculate that they have done this now because the opposition is far weaker than it would have been 20 years ago," Mr Sikorski said.

Several of the main Polish organisations in Britain met last month to consider how to stop the sale. They agreed to approach both the Charity Commission and a canon lawyer and selected six delegates to negotiate with the Marian Fathers. One possibility, according to Mr Sikorski, is to re-open Fawley Court as a Polish school. But he stressed he was optimistic a solution could be found once the Marian Fathers opened up their accounts and became more financially transparent.

The meeting also attracted a member of Poland's parliament, Joanna Fabisiak. She said the Polish government was "very interested in the education of Polish children in England" and was pursuing a "special arrangement" with the Department for Children, Schools and Families.

Fr Wojtek Jasinski, superior of Fawley Court, said the property was "just not affordable" and needed at least £2 million to be spent on repairs. He also said that it was bought mainly with money from the Marian Fathers.

He explained that the order had discussed the situation with Polish groups, English bishops and the Polish hierarchy before announcing their decision.

"We invited people to come forward to give suggestions about what we could do," he said. "But no one came forward with a realistic project - it was all just wishful thinking. There was no alternative but to put it on the market."

He explained that only four priests live in the enormous main building and just 100 to 150 people attend Sunday Mass at the church there.

He said: "We want to go to where the people live. In London on a Sunday at our church in Ealing we have almost 5,000 people. At present London is more important than Fawley Court."

Fr Jasinski said they wanted to spend the money on helping Polish women in Britain who were seeking abortions.