Lambeth Palace ducks church sale debate

-

The residents of Merrymeet, east Cornwall, have received a non committal letter from Archbishop Justin Welby, after appealing him for help in their fight to save their local church from closure.

The Archbishop is unable to intervene in individual cases, it says, and urges concerned local residents to raise concerns with their Archdeacon 'who would be best placed to respond to your specific concerns in this local context.'

In fact, the residents received an unhelpful letter from the Archdeacon just yesterday.

"From what I have now observed, "pass the buck" is a standard procedure for the church management," says Peter Luck, who heads up the residents' association. "Is there any one who can make a decision? What is the point of a heirarchy if nobody can make a decision or has authority to make that decision? This is not a way to give confidence to the public. How can these people be looked up to for spiritual guidance and comfort."

Save The Parish Cornwall's Peter Bellenes adds: "This is part of the pretence that all decisions are "bottom up" - that  the parishes decide and the bishops agree.
"Not true of course as there is a very firm steer from the top through funding decisions and in the diocese from HQ advisors and financial impositions.
"Menheniot, like other parishes, has to raise an inordinate amount of cash for very little in return. Hence the drive to sell property and other assets. It's the economics of the madhouse that will undermine a great deal of local effort.
""The Church of England has been taken over by idealogues with no respect for local people and local place."

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Save The Parish Cornwall responds to Diocese of Truro statement

-
Image
Save The Parish Cornwall issues the following response to a regrettable statement by the Diocese of Truro published on its website on 5 March 2024. The Diocese misleadingly says that Save The Parish Cornwall is 'targeting clergy' and providing inaccurate clergy figures. Save The Parish Cornwall’s recent analysis of clergy numbers in the Diocese shows that there were just 39 priests for Cornwall’s 200 plus parishes and 300 churches at the end of December 2023 - according to figures supplied by Church House sources at the end of January 2024. A further 19 other incumbencies remained vacant. Stipendiary priests in Cornwall at the end of December 2023, and their locations: data supplied by Church House sources to Save The Parish Cornwall at the end of January 2024. There was, therefore, one stipendiary priest to 15,000 people: the population of Cornwall is just over 600,000. The number of stipendiary priests in Cornwall at the end of December 2023 was 39. Save The Parish Cornw
Read more

Cornwall's Bishops in tailspin after BBC Sunday Politics coverage

-
Image
Cornwall’s Bishops have been stung by hard-hitting coverage on BBC Sunday Politics South West of their controversial On the Way cost-cutting programme which is cutting clergy numbers, merging parishes and threatening church closures. In a 1200-word statement on the Diocese of Truro website , and an accompanying letter to all churches, the Bishop of Truro, the Rt Rev Philip Mounstephen, and the Bishop of St Germans, the Rt Rev Hugh Nelson, complain about many aspects of the report ( click here to view the report ). The problem is, as so often with the Diocese of Truro statements, rhetoric does not coincide with reality. Truro complains (on the Diocesan website): “The report lasted just under five minutes but…. Much of the time was given to four speakers from a campaign group, three of whom have no connection with the church in Cornwall or with wider Cornish society." Save The Parish Cornwall explains: The four actually included two well-respected SouthWest MPs who are i
Read more

REVAMPED DEANERY PROPOSALS ACKNOWLEDGE NEED FOR NAMED PAID PARISH PRIESTS IN PARISHES

-
Image
 A crucial deanery synod meeting in west Penwith next week will test both diocesan commitment to maintaining levels of ministry and the deanery’s ability to negotiate with Church House while taking heed of the concerns of anxious churchgoers. At the meeting - the latest step in the Diocese of Truro’s controversial On The Way restructuring plans - there will be a vote on hotly contested clergy numbers.  Thrashing out a plan for the Land’s End peninsula has been beset with problems due to a high number of vacancies as well as recruitment difficulties. The situation is complex: Penzance has some of the highest levels of poverty in Cornwall and the area has some of the county’s most historic churches and fiercely loyal church communities. In the spotlight now: the Diocese’s commitment to increasing number of priests in post and its stated priority ‘to answer the ministry needs of the deanery'. The latest West Penwith Area Ministry Proposal - click here to read   - includes the welc
Read more