Public meeting in Germoe to discuss controversial deanery plan

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An item to lift the heart in the church listings in The Cornishman (3/11/22).  

Germoe Church is holding a meeting for churchgoers and members of the wider community on the controversial plans envisaged in Kerrier deanery's On The Way plan. The meeting will be on 14 November at 630pm in the church hall. This will give everyone a chance to air their views - those who do not attend church (but still value its presence in the community) as well as those who have worshipped there for years.  Click here to read the plan.

Momentum is building elsewhere. We understand other churches in Kerrier - and other Cornish deaneries - are similarly calling special meetings to re-examine the controversial plans. In Kerrier, at least one other Parochial Church Council (PCC) has already met to record its opposition to the plans. 

Kerrier faces radical changes: a 'super parish' with just one Rural Dean covering 23 parishes. The plan 
was voted through by the narrowest of margins. At the meeting of the Kerrier Deanery Synod on 23rd September 2022, at which the Deanery Plan was presented for approval, the secret ballot as recorded in the Minutes was:

For the Plan: 14
Against: 11
Abstentions:        3

  Some of those who attended that synod report that they were not entirely clear what they were voting for  - and now bitterly regret their support.  The Diocese's On The Way plans in Kerrier - as elsewhere - see priests in parishes replaced by lay 'support workers'.

Was there a fair and secret ballot on such radical changes? No. 

And more importantly - did the Diocese explain clearly what the consequences of a 'super parish' would be to all concerned? And put both sides of the argument?  Of course not.

The Kerrier Deanery Plan envisages such radical parish reorganisation that the Anglican Church - as we know it - based on a close relationship between vicar and parish - will effectively cease in an area stretching from the Lizard to Germoe.  Other areas of Cornwall e.g. Penwith face similar changes.


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