Save The Parish - Cornwall

Clergy figures in Cornwall (at an all-time low of 38) are mentioned - as are the 19 vacancies unfulfilled.  These figures were given to Save The Parish Cornwall by the Diocese at the start of February 2024. Click on this link to read the full article - two full pages inside the Sunday supplement.

After two years in York to tie in with General Synod, this year it is the West Country’s turn.  Save The Parish's annual conference will be on Saturday 20 April at St Thomas’ Church, Redcliffe, BS1 6JG Bristol. The church is a 10 minute walk from Temple Meads train station.  Lunch will be at midday and Bishop Andrew Rumsey will speak at 12.45. There will be a panel of speakers in the afternoon discussing their experiences in the restructuring of parishes within the Church of England. The day will end with Evensong in the Church followed by drinks. 20 April, 12pm-5.30pm St Thomas’ Church, Thomas Lane Bristol, BS1 6JG United Kingdom Click here for a free ticket to this event All welcome.

Tomorrow's Church Times (22 March 2024) gives a detailed breakdown of full-time stipendiary parish incumbents in Cornwall. The worryingly low figures had been revealed in a report by Save The Parish Cornwall but strongly contested by the Diocese of Truro. Madeleine Davies's piece puts the record straight, showing how STPC had compiled its figures. These figures - confirmed by the Diocese - showed that clergy numbers were at an all-time low at end December 2023, and staff at Church House were outnumbering full-time stipendiary priests in parishes. Click here to read.

Local newspapers (Reach Group) in Cornwall covered the debate raging this week over clergy numbers in the Diocese of Truro . A Save The Parish Cornwall report has revealed that, at the end of December 2023, the Diocese employed more administrators at Church House, Truro, than clergy.  Read on for the Editorial column published in Cornish newspapers alongside coverage of the report.  

 

  Click here to read a recent leaflet from Save The Parish.

Licensing at Gwinear Church on 5 March 2024 of the Revd Michelle Porter-Babbage as Priest in Charge with Bishop Hugh (left) A big Save the Parish Cornwall welcome to the Rev Michelle Porter-Babbage to Godrevy Benefice. In On The Way restructuring negotiations ( click here for a timeline ), Truro Diocese tried to cut this post to 0.5fte - causing years of upset. Penwith Deanery, knowing the parishes, took the issue back to the Bishop of St Germans, the Rt Rev Hugh Nelson, and his team – and eventually prevailed.  Rev Michelle's post is full-time, as it should be . The message here is that deanery On The Way plans are not set in stone, and that popular pressure and resistance can lead to productive change.

Article in Daily Telegraph throws spotlight on cuts to Sunday services and parish priests. The situation in Cornwall is particularly concerning... Click here to read.

Save The Parish Cornwall issues the following response to a regrettable statement by the Diocese of Truro published on its website on 5 March 2024. The Diocese misleadingly says that Save The Parish Cornwall is 'targeting clergy' and providing inaccurate clergy figures. Save The Parish Cornwall’s recent analysis of clergy numbers in the Diocese shows that there were just 39 priests for Cornwall’s 200 plus parishes and 300 churches at the end of December 2023 - according to figures supplied by Church House sources at the end of January 2024. A further 19 other incumbencies remained vacant. Stipendiary priests in Cornwall at the end of December 2023, and their locations: data supplied by Church House sources to Save The Parish Cornwall at the end of January 2024. There was, therefore, one stipendiary priest to 15,000 people: the population of Cornwall is just over 600,000. The number of stipendiary priests in Cornwall at the end of December 2023 was 39. Save The Parish Cornw...

  Click here to read an article by Save The Parish's Emma Thompson on the perils and dire realities of 'oversight ministers', sadly being imposed in the Diocese of Truro.

A Save The Parish Cornwall supporter gives his highly personal point of view on what the future might hold for the Church of England in Cornwall It is hard to fathom why the Diocese of Truro is so intent on amalgamating parishes, reducing clergy numbers and investing in 'oversight management'. Wherever this has been tried it hasn't worked.  Wigan, an early forerunner, has been a disaster, the Super Parishes in Wales have been anything but 'super' and parallel initiatives around England are visibly deflating as congregations depart and the collection declines.  The whole thing is baffling, there is no financial reason for any of this so we can only conclude that the CofE has either been captured by some sort of outmoded 20th century management theory or is mesmerised by a fantastical vision of the future based on urban mega churches and has little interest in anything beyond the urban pale. Indeed both of these this things could be true. Either way the diocese h...

Click here to read a timeline of planning, events and development of the Diocese of Truro's On The Way restructuring plans.