Save The Parish - Cornwall

Kerrier Deanery's plans for a radical restructuring plan envisaging a giant benefice with 23 churches coming together under one Rural Dean have caused shock waves not just locally but beyond the Tamar. And clearly - to judge from the newly appointed Rural Dean Rev Heidi Huntley's article in West Kerrier's July parish magazine - elements of the 'On The Way' plan have come as a great surprise to local residents too.  Some people aren't quite sure what is going on, she suggests.  And, she adds, it's been a 'bit of a shock'  - to put it mildly - to hear that the second priest to be employed in the deanery (through Church Commissioners' funding - the Rev Susie Templeton - won't be working on Sundays....  So much for the 'consultation' process that allegedly took place about the re-structuring, part of Cornwall's Bishops' On The Way plans for reshaping church in the county. Rev Heidi writes: Dear friends It’s come to my attenti...

Anyone interested in Truro Diocese leadership's thinking on the future of church buildings in the county should definitely take a look at a paper by Diocesan Secretary Simon Cade, presented at the most recent meeting of the Diocesan Advisory Council (DAC). Rev Cade says said that during the Covid pandemic lockdowns, people had ‘learnt to say that “the church is not a building”. The last three years ‘may have shifted our collective attitude to buildings’, he goes on to argue. His thoughts in this short paper (slides below) veer from apparently supporting parish churches to saying that they do not matter, as he draws our attention to what he calls 'four stories'.... The View From the Diocesan Secretary's Office Story, place and buildings in Cornwall 1.  During lockdowns we learned to say that the church is not a building This is a theological and linguistic ‘truth’ and it was important to sustain the life of the church when we did not have access to buildings  The l...

Deanery Synod members in Kerrier, west Cornwall, have been given a deadline of 3 August 2023 to approve a controversial Community Interest Company (CIC) to employ new workers in the proposed On The Way plan – which will result in one huge benefice uniting 23 scattered churches. The Kerrier On The Way plan , approved by Kerrier Deanery Synod by just one vote in 2021, has ever since caused widespread division and anxiety. This confusion continues. Deanery synod members say the need for a CIC was not mentioned when the plan was drawn up and some consider they are being pressured by the Diocese into forming a CIC so that the plan can go forward. Save The Parish Cornwall has drawn up a Fact Sheet outlining the significant legal and administrative responsibilities involved. It questions why the Diocese is unwilling to access the funds directly. Click here to read.  The Diocese insists, however, that a Community Interest Company (CIC) is the only way of accessing funds from the Church...

At the  Save the Parish  Conference in York (Thursday 6 July 2023) , its chairman, the Revd Marcus Walker, unveiled a proposal he will be presenting to the Church of England’s General Synod next week to pump £150,000,000 a year into the poorest parishes of the Church of England, revitalising them for mission and saving them from the risk of closure.    An amendment to the motion on GS2314 (Note 1) will force the Synod to decide whether the Church intends to fulfil its twin promises “to be a Christian presence in every community” and “to give priority to the poor”.    The amendment would have the following effects:   1) This will turn the present £50 million “Lower Income Communities Fund” into something that actually sends money to lower income communities. As the Chote Report (Note 2) specified, “Most dioceses in receipt of LInC distribute the funding to their poorest parishes by formula through the parish share system, sometimes with a ...