Ouch! Penwith Deanery plan stumbles at first fence as Rural Dean post to be re-advertised

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Penwith Deanery's radical On The Way deanery plan has stumbled at the first fence as the national advertisement for a rural dean to oversee its implementation only attracted one applicant.

This is a bit of an embarrassment for Truro's Episcopal College. The post will be re-advertised - and possibly rewritten, according to local sources. The original ad sought an incumbent with almost super human powers - click here to read the job description. The new Rural Dean would be priest of three churches (Gulval, Madron and Heamoor) while overseeing the implementation of a controversial restructuring plan creating two super parishes - east Penwith and west Penwith  - and simultaneously hiring a flotilla of new posts in an extensive 'support team'.

So no wonder just one applicant. 

On The Way confusion as diocesan leadership fails
Across west Cornwall and beyond, congregations are confused and uncertain as the diocese fails to make the way forward clear and engage in adequate consultation on the next steps in On The Way. Again and again, parishioners report that they ask questions - but receive no clear answers. At a recent Save The Parish meeting in Penzance, people reported a disturbing lack of clarity over the future.

Churchgoers from Sancreed said consultation and dialogue with the diocese had been non-existent - over a plan that they did not fully support but were told that the Bishop of St Germans, the Rt Rev Hugh Nelson, would vote through if they did not. 

At a recent deanery synod they were told that Sancreed would be joined with Penlee Cluster - the first anyone present had heard of this.  Archdeacon Paul Bryer, supposedly in charge of the way forward, simply ignored unwanted questions when they were put to him.

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