Answers needed please Bishop, says Save The Parish Cornwall

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Answers, please, Bishop Philip. 

Save The Parish Cornwall has sent a further letter to the Bishop of Truro, the Rt Rev Philip Mounstephen, expressing the deep concerns of church goers across Cornwall about the lack of consultation - and clarity  - over On The Way plans.  We ask for a meeting to discuss this and an open conversation about the way forward.

Click here to read the letter.  

Key questions for Bishop Philip:

  •  Confusion about the Diocese’s recent statement in the press that there would be ten more clergy in post by the end of 2023. This contradicts TDBF budget plans: correspondence with the Diocesan press office has failed to clarify this.
  • At both Bishops' deanery visits to discuss On The Way plans, challenges have been shut down and questions from the floor have been kept to a minimum. Proceedings have been choreographed to allow praise – but not criticism.
  • Following a Save The Parish meeting with Bishop Hugh on 31 August 2022, we were promised answers to key questions, recorded in the Minutes (agreed by both parties). We have not received satisfactory answers to these questions: the response has been shallow, and dismissive.
  • Press coverage over the past week in the local press and Church Times has indicated a significant lack of pastoral care on the part of the Bishop of Truro – over On The Way and at the Cathedral. The Bishop of Truro's recent Cathedral visitation was described in a letter to the Church Times as ignoring ‘natural justice’.

  

The background:

Save The Parish Cornwall originally wrote to Bishop Philip in January 2023, requesting a moratorium on On The Way plans - and a meeting with concerned parishioners.

This was curtly rejected by Bishop Philip.

Click here to read his response.

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