IN the year when Christians celebrate the 2000th anniversary of the birth of Jesus, high-ranking clergymen have halted the rebuilding of a Bounds Green church.

The Bishop of Edmonton, the Rt Rev Peter Wheatley, has ordered rebuilding work at St Gabriel's in Bounds Green Road, Bounds Green, to cease ? leaving a half-built shell.

The move, which has shocked parishioners, comes, according to Rt Rev Wheatley, because of 'present and future constraints of finance and staffing'.

John Waller, secretary of St Gabriel's District Church Council, told the Independent: 'The whole community of Bounds Green will have no church at all.

'The congregation are the victims. Up to now all the bishop has given us is lip service and assumptions.'

In a pastoral letter, the bishop revealed that he accepted the Edmonton Area Council's recommendations to abandon the rebuilding of St Gabriel's because it was not financially viable.

The bishop added: 'There should be imaginative thinking about how to integrate members of St Gabriel's into the existing worshipping communities.'

The congregation is expected to relocate to St Michael-at-Bowes, where St Gabriel's parishioners have been worshipping since 1997.

But Mr Waller is angry that this could spell the end of a religious community that has worshipped at the church since 1905.

He said: 'We are not seeking to attack the Church of England. We are supporting what we perceive Jesus would want us to do.

'We are trying to protect the integrity of the church and do the right thing.

'It is not as if they are trying to build a cathedral. It seems to be a sad state affairs and contrary to the wishes of both congregations.

'This will continue to go on until they put their house in order.'

Mr Waller is furious that the church has suffered because of financial constraints. The Church of England made a reported £700 million last year by investments in dot-com companies.

He is also concerned that the closures could trigger a national trend.

The area council report said that although there was support for rebuilding St Gabriel's, a seating capacity of 90 would be too small and it would create access and parking difficulties.

It added that there was the 'intractable problem of funding, given the improbability of recovering any money from the developer'.

A full investigation of the financial and legal situation is to be carried out.