Help us please, Bishop! King Charles Church, Falmouth, receives no response to plea for support
Parochial Church Council (PCC) members at King Charles Church in Falmouth
have issued a plea for help to Cornwall's church leaders. They have written a letter to Archdeacon Clive Hogger and the acting Bishop of
Truro, the Rt Rev Hugh Nelson, stating that they do not believe their church's needs are being considered properly. There are - quite simply - not enough clergy in the deanery. As yet there has been no response to the letter, dated 30 September 2024.
PCC members report that as things stand, the church has no one to take its Christmas Carol Service, nor Midnight Mass. The churchwarden finds it increasingly hard to find a vicar for services.
Dear Archdeacon Clive
King Charles the Martyr Falmouth
At our last Parochial Church Council meeting, grave concern was expressed by all present about the future of KCM, in particular as to the shortage of clergy to take services in the immediate and medium term. This letter arises from that concern and is being sent on behalf of all current members of the PCC. Their names are listed as signatories below.
It should immediately be stated that what follows is in no way whatever a criticism of those clergy who presently take services, to whom we have been and will continue to be extremely grateful. As you will know, we now have two clergy to officiate: Revd Canon Geoffrey Bennett (now formally Rector of KCM) and Revd Geoff Davis, whom again as you will know is a retired priest living in a house for duty. Each takes services whenever possible but equally each has very significant other commitments, Geoffrey B being Rural Dean and Vicar of Budock and Geoff D having to officiate at a number of other churches. In addition, Geoffrey B is, we understand, retiring in early 2025.
By way of preface to what follows, we should say that at KCM we do not feel we have always been treated properly by the Diocese.
THE PCC THEN STATES EXTENSIVE DISSATISFACTION RE A PREVIOUS INCUMBENT, AND COMPLAINS THAT THE DIOCESE DID NOTHING TO RESOLVE THE ISSUE.
THE LETTER CONTINUES ....
Thereafter, again as you will know, the parish was in effect rescued by the then Archdeacon, Bill Stuart-White, who came to KCM on an interregnum basis and at about the same time as the pandemic struck. The latter meant that, because services were greatly scaled back, he could manage KCM, All Saints and the New Street church without difficulty. However, circumstances in terms of the need for clergy have of course now returned fully to normal. Unhappily, at KCM Evensong has been unavoidably abandoned whereas, for example, Budock has returned to having two or sometimes three Sunday services. In due course, Bill S-W’s retirement meant that he left in mid 2023 after a relatively short period here and, as stated above, we now have (only) two clergy to officiate when they are able to do so.
Given
the above history, you will therefore understand the very real anxiety we have
about how the parish of KCM is to be served in the future. It is the principal church of the town, long
predating the others. In addition, it is the Civic Church, where all official
services are held, attended by the Mayor and sometimes the Lord
Lieutenant. To illustrate the dire state
of things so far as clergy are concerned, there is presently no one available
this year to take our annual candlelit Nine Lessons and Carols Service (a major
service locally, when the church is always full to overflowing) and nobody to
take the Midnight Mass service. We are
fortunate in that we have a close relationship with Falmouth Methodist Church.
Their Minister took a joint Harvest Festival service last Sunday and will be
taking a joint service on Christmas morning.
Were that not so, there would be no Christmas Service at KCM,
Falmouth’s main church. Even though there will be now be a Christmas morning
service, there will as things presently stand be no celebration of
communion at this major church festival.
There is a further consideration. Happily, there is a core, albeit relatively small, group of loyal congregants who, to put it colloquially, keep the show on the road. Money is raised through various events (eg weekly concerts and regular coffee mornings). Maintenance is often done in house and cost thereby saved. The church is regularly open for several hours a day to visitors, thus engaging the community as well as raising money through donations. As a church, we are, in short, doing all we can and very much with an eye to growth – via visitors, those who attend concerts or other events and via local organisations who use the church. It is no fault whatever of those who currently take services at KCM but what we currently lack is a focus in terms of clergy. With proper leadership we could build on what we are doing and hope that this additional strength would also benefit the Deanery. Although some other churches appear to have clergy fairly readily on hand, we do realise that the days of having a permanent incumbent for one church alone are gone. That said, there must as soon as possible be significant improvement in the current clergy situation at KCM both now and in the future.
Our current standing order for MMF is £1600 per month, i.e. £19,200 p.a. We are well aware that this is applied in various ways but hope you will understand our pointing out that there must be a degree of quid pro quo in what comes back to us, in terms of meeting our needs, from the Diocese.
In the light of all the above, we would invite serious consideration of how clergy arrangements at KCM can both be significantly improved and given a greater degree of certainty and we look forward to hearing from you when there has been an opportunity for such consideration.
Comments