Priest invests church money in shares

Press, 26 December 1985, Page 19

Priest invests church money in shares

NZPA-AAP Sydney An enterprising Catholic priest in Western Australia has had his prayers answered after investing his church’s building fund in the stockmarket to help finance construction of a new church. The investment paid for the walls and roof but there was not enough money to finish the building. When the shares failed to rise as quickly as the Rev. Kevin Glover had hoped, a Good Samaritan among his parishioners — understood to be the owner of the company in which he invested — came to his rescue with a $60,000 interest-free loan. Father Glover originally bought 120,000 shares in the high-tech company, Barrack

Technology, when the issue was made in June this year. “He got them at sAustl each,” said the company’s owner, Denis Horgan, from Perth. The shares were now selling at $1.40 to $1.45 each, which was effectively a 90 per cent return. Mr Horgan, aged 45, is a devout Catholic who owns a vineyard, Leeuwin Estate, near Margaret River, 238 km south of Perth. Father Glover is the priest at the Sir Thomas Moore Church at Margaret River, as well as Lumen Christi, at Augusta, where his new church is to be built. Mr Horgan said he was a great admirer of Father Glover, who came to the area in 1980 and had since

transformed the community. He had built an architecturally renowned rammed mud church at Margaret River to replace a “tin shed” last year,, was now embarking on the new church at Augusta, had reduced unemployment and drug problems in the area and created enormous community spirit — all without worsening the church’s debt. “This guy is one of the most creative people I have ever met in my. life,” he said. “It sounds like one of his parishioners has made sufficient financial arrangements for him to be able to complete his church,” said Mr Horgan, who declined to confirm that he had made the loan.