TOP DOWN NOT BOTTOM UP: TRURO'S BISHOPS FORCE MORE UNWANTED CHANGE

It may be holiday time in Cornwall but there’s no rest for the Diocese’s Director for Change and Renewal Ruth Marriott. Ms Marriott has sanctioned a proposal for a five-church benefice in Penwith Deanery despite vociferous objections: further heavy-handed action from a Diocese desperate to push through its unpopular and controversial re-organisation plans known as On The Way.
Both of Truro’s Bishops have repeatedly insisted that the restructuring plans have been ‘bottom up’ not ‘top down’, with ideas originating from individual deaneries. In fact, the opposite has been the case with the Bishop of St Germans, the Rt Rev Hugh Nelson, micro-managing the plans’ development and implementation at every turn.
The latest example of this has been the ruling from Ms Marriott on 18 August 2023 ‘approving’ a proposal for a five-church benefice uniting Madron, Gulval, Heamoor, Zennor and Towednack with a single priest (to be appointed) based in Madron.
Parishes involved have repeatedly expressed their deep concerns about the suggestion of such a benefice - Zennor PCC in particular. 

 

Zennor objection

 

This tight-knit community desperately wants to preserve its church and current services. Following the July Penwith Deanery synod where these concerns were made clear, the newly appointed Rural Dean (St Ives priest Nick Widdows) called a meeting to take place a few days later with PCC members of the five churches involved. The aim: to discuss the proposal for a new benefice.
Zennor PCC objected strongly to the proposal in a persuasive letter, which included the key points:
“Our assessment of the current situation is that it would be highly inappropriate to team the two rural parishes of Zennor and Towednack together with the urban churches of Madron, Gulval and Heamoor. Our situation and our needs are very different. We have no need for any of the new lay posts put forward – especially ‘child worker’. We are a community mainly of farming families; their children are all well looked after – certainly not deprived. The children of our village, and often those of neighbouring parishes, participate in and enjoy a regular children’s service with their families at our church, initiated and led by Rev. Elizabeth Foot.
It would be impossible for one appointed priest, incumbent of Madron, whose designated role appears to be concentrated on the social care of the poorer people and ‘deprived children’ in the suburbs of Penzance - a population amounting to 1000s – to give due care and ‘cure of souls’ to the inhabitants of our small villages, who have always relied on ‘their’ priest and ‘their’ church.”
 

The meeting ..... consultation?

 

The PCC also completed a formal Deanery Proposal which was requested and no fewer than seven members attended the meeting. Based on their adamant stance, Rev Widdows asked if they might be more partial to joining with Pendeen and St Just instead of the five-parish benefice proposed. This did appear to make more sense: Pendeen and St Just are both on Zennor’s ‘side’ of the coast and definitely smaller than the other three parishes.
With this suggestion in the air, Zennor PCC en bloc abstained from the vote re going ahead re seeking a single priest for the five proposed churches as one benefice.

Thus the meeting ended. But…. as has often happened in recent months when meetings discussing On The Way are recorded, this discussion – and Zennor’s abstention - failed to appear in the ‘Action Points’ subsequently circulated. The status of these Action Points (which do not mention the St Just/Pendeen/Zennor suggestion) were questioned by many who received them. Who approved them? Were they official? Curiously, the document states: It's important to note that these notes are not official minutes and are not intended to comprehensively document the entire meeting.’

 

Ms Marriott takes action
 

Then, worse - all did become clear. The Deanery Implementation Team went ahead anyway – despite the clear unease of Zennor PCC and others. The proposal for a five-church benefice was approved - without any further consultation - by Ms Marriott as Diocesan Director of Change and Renewal (post advertised with a salary of £45-50,000). This was nothing less than a bombshell revelation for everyone who objected to the proposed new benefice.
Ms Marriott’s name was not known to Zennor PCC – but alas it is very familiar to others pushing back against the Diocese’s plans. Ms Marriott heads up a team at Church House, employed to push through the Bishops of Truro and St Germans’ plans for radical re-organisation.
“No mention seems to be made of our withholding our vote!” said a member of Zennor PCC, who sadly echoed the feelings of many involved in the dismal process of dealing with the misleading rhetoric involved in On The Way. “Incidentally Rev Widdows did actually say that each PCC had the legal right to agree or disagree with any new appointment - though no mention seems to have been made of that either. I think ‘they’ are just aiming to wear us down…..and I must admit it takes so much determination to keep going in the face of it all.” 

 

Situation in Penwith

 

In Penwith Deanery, proposals in On The Way plans will result in radical changes in church life. In a recent twist, the deanery synod in on 19 July 2023 learned that St Ives PCC (Parochial Church Council) will now be responsible for employing proposed new lay workers (to be paid with Church Commissioners’ funding). Previously, it was proposed that a Community Interest Company (CIC) be set up to do this. It's encouraging that the concerns of many in the deanery about this have been heeded: the responsibilities of a CIC are significant, and represent a significant shift in the Diocese’s approach to employing clergy and lay workers. Click here to read Save The Parish Cornwall's fact sheet on the responsibilities of setting up a CIC.



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