Save The Parish Cornwall calls for On The Way moratorium as Bishops announce end of priests in parishes
The letter resulted from a public meeting in January attended by worried parishioners from 10 of the 12 deaneries in the county. It called for an “open honest and transparent “ rethink of the destructive and irreversible cutbacks contained in the diocese’s On The Way plans.
It came as the county’s bishops finally admitted this weekend to “seismic” plans to do away with Cornwall’s traditional parish priests and instead impose “oversight ministry” where clergy will become little more than administrators supervising lay staff running multiple churches and taking over religious affairs.
“The traditional ‘vicar’ role that most of us have in mind when we think of someone wearing a dog collar, well that’s gone now” the Rt Rev Hugh Nelson, Bishop of St Germans, told a Carnmarth North deanery visit meeting in Illogan last Saturday.
“Over the next few years we will see the way that our stipendiary clergy change to what we call ‘oversight ministry’ which means that rather than being expected to do everything on the ground that they support as a whole what churches are called to do”
He nodded vigorously when it was put to him that it was a “seismic” change in church life in the county.
But the Bishop of Truro Rt Rev Philip Mounstephen publicly refused point blank when urged to encourage Cornish congregations to directly air their objections and fears to him about the devastating schemes.
Campaigners said the bishops’ admission confirmed the damage parishioners had feared from the diocese’s “On The Way” blueprint. In one deanery they plan to create one giant benefice with just two stipendiary priests - one a rural dean - overseeing a vast area containing 23 separate churches.
“We are writing to call for a moratorium on the On The Way plans that are being rolled out across Cornwall,” the letter asked the Bishop of Truro, the Rt Rev Philip Mounstephen. “We are asking you personally, for the second time, for an urgent meeting to discuss a number of issues before these irreversible and damaging proposals move into formal consultation.”
The On The Way cutback plans, pushed through in deaneries across Cornwall, propose culling the number of paid stipendiary clergy and replacing them with lay workers. The call for a moratorium was passed overwhelmingly at a Public Meeting in Truro in January attended by nearly 40 protesting churchgoers from parishes in 10 of the 12 deaneries in Truro Diocese.
The meeting, called by the campaigning group Save The Parish Cornwall, and addressed by representatives of STP nationally who have financially analysed the proposals, agreed that the Bishop’s On The Way plans are deeply flawed in both principle and practicality. Save The Parish is campaigning nationally to keep priests in parishes and churches open.
The disgruntled Cornish churchgoers who met in Truro also believe that the consultation process on these plans is not being conducted with honesty, balance or adequate transparency. There are many questions the diocese has failed ignored or refused to address or answer, they add.
There is simply no financial need in Truro Diocese for On The Way – despite frequent assertions to the contrary, said STP-C spokesman Peter Bellenes. “In the Truro Diocesan accounts for the calendar year 2021 it was stated that “The 2021 operating budget deficit was £1.3m … This prompted a piece of work which resulted in the introduction of On the Way in January 2021. So therefore the clearly documented and stated reason for On the Way is to save money.”
The Bishop of Truro recently had to unveil the damning results of a major investigation into massive problems during his oversight of Truro Cathedral.
At Saturday’s meeting at Illogan - asked by a questioner whether he would encourage people uneasy about the plans to contact him - said no they should not.
“I have no reason to believe that proper consultation has not happened.”
ends
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