Warning: the potential effects of clergy cuts on communities' mental health
Many thanks to Jonathan Harradine, from Penwith Deanery, who has drawn our attention to You Are Not Alone in Feeling Lonely , a recent report by Age UK . Mr Harradine is a Research Fellow at York University in the Health Science Faculty, which contributed to this report. Its message is particularly relevant as 'Oversight Ministers' - clergy overseeing ever larger numbers of parishes - become an increasing reality in Cornwall. Isolation leads to mental health issues: people need local contact, the report says. Click here to read it. "I think the insights in this report highlight the need for the Church to recognise that it is not supporting its parishioners and its communities adequately in this important area for our Health and Wellbeing," Mr Harradine says. He believes it is particularly important to consider this ahead of the upcoming Penwith Deanery Planning Day (15th November) and the review of Penwith's On The Way Deanery Plan. Local clergy recently ack...