The lodging of the caveat by a parishioner could lead to the battle going all the way to the Supreme Court.

The hall, along with several other properties in the Anglican Diocese of Bathurst, are part of a fire sale by the church to raise funds to address a financial crisis which has seen the church’s three Anglican schools in Bathurst, Orange and Dubbo incur the majority of a $38 million debt hanging over the diocese.

The church is also selling off the historic rectory buildings in Molong and Millthorpe, among other properties in the region.

A parishioner from Molong said church members are equally enraged, as the rector in the town has purchased a home privately, but income generated from the rectory rental is helping fund the church in Molong.

A forum packed by parishioners on Sunday at Holy Trinity in Orange did little to allay fears, according to several people who attended.

Max Madden said he was very vocal at the forum, but felt sorry for the counsellor Marilyn Wilson, who the church brought in to help parishioners cope with the turmoil over proposed property sell- offs.

“She was like a lamb being led to the slaughter,” he said.

Parishioner John Gibb, who lodged the caveat with the NSW Government Land and Property Division, said feelings were running high at the meeting.

“People are very, very angry,” he said. “As far as I can see there is absolutely no precedent for what is happening here. In another situation this would be called bankruptcy.”

Mr Gibb, along with fellow parishioners Ernest Shave and Rob Westcott, have been part of an investigative team trying to explore all possibilities to save the hall from sale since the issue of the sell-off was flagged by Bishop Richard Hurford earlier this year.

Mr Gibb, a chartered accountant with 40 years’ experience, said a decision by the Bathurst Diocese to borrow money and “on lend” it to the three schools in the Bathurst Diocese had been a disaster, jeopardising the financial future of the diocese.

In the Holy Trinity Anglican Church notes handed out to parishioners on Sunday, Reverend Canon Frank Hether-

ington said he was notified on Friday, June 22 by the Diocesan Property Trust the Bluestone Hall was to be urgently listed for sale.

Rev Hetherington told parishioners he wrote to the bishop expressing frustration and regret.

Holy Trinity has budgeted this year for $50,000 income from the hall and will now struggle to balance its budget.

Earlier this year Bishop Hurford, in an open letter to the diocese, said the solution to the current financial woes involved the transfer of sufficient debt off the balance sheets of the schools to the Anglican Property Trust.

He said this would allow the schools to trade successfully, with the transferred debt being eventually repaid by the Diocese.