Offer up your palace, Welby... that’s Christian

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has offered to house a Syrian family in a cottage in the grounds of Lambeth Palace. It sounds like a noble idea, but it seems to me that he is preaching to us from a safe distance.

I have an idea for what he could do if he really wanted to help these refugees.

He could move into the cottage and give Lambeth Palace to them. Surely this would be more helpful, and more Christian, as more people could be housed in the palace than in the cottage.

B. Hooton, Leeds Archbishop Welby’s offer made me think about all the empty properties the Church must have, and how many have been opened up to those in need, such as English Christians who have fallen on hard times or who are homeless.

Carole Tucker,

Highgate, North London Years ago, as a teenager home alone, I answered the door to a tramp asking for a drink of water. I made him a cup of tea and a round of toast. Half a dozen turning up the next day would not have been so welcome.

Every Halloween I answer the door and hand out 20 or 30 chocolate bars to mainly grateful and polite children who come knocking. It is, after all, only once a year. Sad though it is, as individuals and as a nation we can only give aid to a proportion of those who need it.

Alan Sharpe, Melton Mowbray I must applaud Archbishop Welby on his offer of a home to a Syrian family. Where would we be without people who set an example? His position is to lead the Church of England and he is doing so by example.

One of the tenets of Christianity is extend the hand of friendship to those in need.

Those fleeing Syria are in need and it matters not one bit whether they are Christian, Muslim or whatever.

James Benn, London Once settled in Europe, migrants will be entitled to send for their extended families to join them. How are these troubled people to be housed, and provided with education and healthcare?

R. Conolly,

Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire What about the next million migrants who will surely follow once the coming winter has passed? I take my hat off to the authorities in Hungary, where they have played by the rules. It’s time we applied the mantra of ‘What’s good for us’, first and foremost.

C. Bloomfield,

Rushmere St Andrew, Suffolk