ACTING BISHOP OF TRURO WILL HALT THE DECLINE IN CORNWALL’S CLERGY NUMBERS, HE TELLS CAMPAIGN GROUP
The acting Bishop of Truro is committed to ‘halting the decline’ in numbers of stipendiary parish priests in Cornwall , he pledged to a campaign group pushing for 100 such positions in Cornwall. Save the Parish Cornwall (STPC) had presented the Rt Rev Hugh Nelson and his senior aides with detailed costed plans demonstrating how the Diocese can significantly increase clergy numbers, currently at an all-time low. However, Bishop Hugh , tipped by his supporters to be the next Bis h op of Truro, declined to say how many priests in parishes he envisaged, saying it would be in line with what was planned in the controversial On The Way restructuring plans in the county . T h ese plans – rolled out over the past two years – however place an emphasis on lay ministry, rather than parish priests. At a meeting with STPC at St John’s Church, Truro, when pressed n either he, nor Diocesan Secretary Canon Simon Cade , were prepared to reveal an exact number but said