Save The Parish - Cornwall

You may be interested to know that Leicester diocese is presently putting forward the first whole-diocese reorganisation scheme. The idea is that each and every parish in the diocese should be gathered into a large grouping, overseen by an ‘Oversight Minister’. Despite past denials from the top, such schemes provide clear evidence that the proven CofE parish system, as we know it, is being ended. Other dioceses may be achieving the same result differently (for example by allowing current appointments to end without appointing new parish priests). A ten-year plan noted by the Truro Diocesan Synod on Saturday plans for 55 Oversight Ministers across the diocese. We believe this to herald a pan-diocese plan for a complete change of style of ministry. Truro's Bishops have already confirmed that two of Cornwall's 12 deaneries will see new patterns of ministry with stipendiary clergy leading teams of ordained and lay people over areas that will include more than ten churches - Ke...

Details here in this Job Description to read about the merger of two benefices to one in the north Cornwall deanery of East Wivelshire - and a move from 'traditional patterns of ministry to an oversight and focal/local model'. The ad is for an Oversight Minister to lead this transition. Click here to read. This comes as Cornwall's Bishops say plans for such giant benefices - or ' mega parishes' - will take place in 'two deaneries' only. Click here to read their statement on the Diocese of Truro website and attack on BBC1's Sunday Politics South West which exposed these plans. Click here to read Save The Parish Cornwall's line-by-line response. We will post up more details of these plans as they emerge. Click here to read East Wivelshire's On The Way Deanery Plan.

The alarmingly thin Lay representation in the Church of England in Cornwall was never more evident than on Saturday (20/05/2023) at Truro’s Diocesan Synod when the Bishops’ ten-year Plan for Change and Renewal was ‘noted’ despite brave voices of concern. Shockingly, senior clergy have allowed just over a third of Lay seats on the Synod to remain vacant: out of a total 55 possible lay representatives, only 35 (63%) are occupied. Yet these are the supposed “voice of the congregations” and allowed to fall silent. So it was predictable that after debate, with the thin lay presence as usual dominated by the Bishops’ supporters, the Synod at St Martins Church in Liskeard agreed to “note" the plan and nod it through – 42 in favour, three against and no abstentions, Vivian Hall, a member of the General Synod but also a Trigg Major deanery synod member, led a Lay resistance. He proposed an amendment which sought to dismiss the original motion proposed by the Bishop of Truro, the Rt Rev Ph...

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...

A damning assessment by MPs of Cornwall's Bishops' plans to change the Church of England in Cornwall was broadcast on TV across the South West today. BBC1's Sunday morning Politics SouthWest delved deep into the Diocese of Truro's controversial 'On The Way' plans under which parish priests will be cut across the county and replaced by 'oversight ministers' managing large numbers of parishes and teams of lay project workers. Click here to view - the segment starts at minute 20. Diane Thomas from Sancreed Church in Penwith deanery told the programme that her church had not had a vicar for nine years. The Rt Rev Hugh Nelson, Bishop of St Germans, Hugh Nelson admitted for the first time that Truro's On The Way plans WILL mean “slightly fewer clergy”. He also admitted that the “very wealthy” national Church of England is freeing up large sums of money for churches. "The church does have (money), it's very wealthy .... some of that is being free...

 The Diocese of Truro continues with plans to slash clergy in a movement towards a 'mission church' model and 'oversight ministry'. Its 2022 accounts - due to be approved at the Diocesan Synod on Saturday 20 May 2023 - show a ten per cent drop in clergy numbers from 60 at the end of 2021 to 54 a year later. Click here to view the accounts. Confused by the jargon? You are not alone. Cornwall's two Bishops, the Rt Rev Philip Mounstephen Bishop of Truro, and his suffragan the Rt Rev Hugh Nelson, Bishop of St Germans, are backing plans to drive through a new vision for the church in Cornwall. This involves an end to the centuries old tradition of vicars in parishes having a 'cure of souls' - and the introduction of a new working method i.e. one central church, well-funded and usually in an urban area, with outlying 'hubs' in surrounding areas.  The vicar running the central church will no longer be called a vicar or priest - but an 'oversight ministe...

 A message from Save The Parish national steering committee member Emma Thompson Dear  Supporter   You may like to know how our Parliamentary meeting went last week in Westminster.  We feel that it went very well.  The 35 MPs and peers who attended are now far better briefed and realise how serious the situation is.  They are also now aware what the Church of England could do, financially, to pay more parish priests.  (Please read the transcripts of our speakers  https:// savetheparish.com/save-the- parish-in-parliament/ .)      After our speakers, parishioners who were present from around England were invited to share their parish experiences for 2 minutes each.  This made it very clear to MPs that there was a geographically widespread pattern of similar experiences.  One of the next steps will be MPs holding their own meeting to agree Parliamentary action.     Please note that a few of the MPs whom STP supporte...

 The Diocese of Truro has revealed its ten-year plan for the future. Click here to read the Diocese Plan for Change and Renewal. The quickest of scans of this 33-page documents reveals that the Bishops intend to push forward with their radical and unpopular plans for changes in patterns of ministry - for vicars in 'oversight roles' rather than curing souls.  Click here for a summary. Please share this news to the wider community: these plans will change the face of the Church of England in Cornwall forever. It's important to contact your Diocesan Synod representative and ask him or her to put forward your views at the Diocesan Synod on 20 May 2023, when the Bishops will push through this plan which has already been aproved by the Bishops' Diocesan Council. Click here to download papers for the 20 May 2023 Synod.