Save The Parish - Cornwall

  A bleak night in Portreath, Cornwall, saw Carnmarth North deanery plan voted  through after two delays. Initially Rural Dean Caspar Bush and his team failed to submit it in time for Episcopal College approval before the June synod meeting. Then following the death of the Queen, the 9 September 2022 synod  was postponed. On Tuesday 18 October, Rev Bush finally saw the On The Way plan approved which will see him as Rural Dean Tsar head up a new 'On The Way' unit swallowing up Transforming Mission Camborne. His former curate Rev Graham Adamson becomes a 'peripatetic' vicar across Carnmarth North's 18 churches. As one clergyman from Camborne bravely said at the Synod, a fair amount of the Church Commissioners' Lowest Income Community funding - which will finance this new roaming position - will be spent on his petrol costs. Rev Adamson will also in an odd twist be overseeing the work of his former boss Rev Rosheen Browning, priest in charge at Camborne, who has st...

 The Carnmarth North deanery synod to approve its On The Way  cost-cutting plan has failed to meet Episcopal College approval - for reasons that remain unclear. Last month a shambolic synod approved the plan - despite an admitted lack of consultation with congregations previously.   Click here to read the original plan. Rural Dean Caspar Bush circulated an email yesterday saying the original plan had been rejected by the Episcopal College over the MMF (Mission and Ministry Fund) budget deficit it envisaged. This despite the fact that the Bishop of St Germans, the Rt Rev Hugh Nelson. micro-managed the development of the plan from the start. A deanery synod to approve the revised version is scheduled for 8 September 2022. Rev Bush's email reads: To: Carnmarth North Deanery Synod reps and other interested parties This email is to update you on On the Way, and to set a new date for our next Synod. We apologise that once again it has been necessary to postpone this Synod...

Senior clergy in Carnmarth North Deanery steam-rolled through their On The Way plan on Wednesday (15/6/22) despite Rural Dean Caspar Bush admitting that the 67-page document had only been distributed to parishioners at the last minute and there was no time for proper consultation. Rev Bush only sent the document out to Deanery Representatives on Sunday morning (12/6/22) due to a ‘technical glitch’ with the Diocese. This meant that in the best-case scenario – if the plan had been then immediately been distributed to congregations by the Deanery representatives, who were not instructed to do so – congregations had just over three days to digest proposals which will change church life forever. In fact some present at the meeting at St Mary's Church, Portreath, said that their Parochial Church Councils were unaware that the Deanery Synod was taking place. “We can’t pretend that’s been done as well as it should have been done,” Rev Bush said. “I put my hand up on that. I give my ...

The powers that be at the Diocese of Truro appear anxious to keep details of their   'On The Way' cost cutting p lans top secret before they can railroad them through with little or no scrutiny at deanery synods.  As always, we ask - why the secrecy, Bishops? To be helpful - here at Save The Parish Cornwall we'll be publishing details of On The Way plans - draft and actual - as soon as we get them. If you have knowledge of one, and believe that people have a right to know what is planned for their parish, please get in touch. We will, of course, keep all contact details confidential.  A big date for next week:  Carnmarth North Deanery Synod is on Wednesday 15 June 2022 at St Mary's Portreath at 7pm. The deanery's On The Way plan will be presented and there will be a vote on whether or not to accept it (see agenda below). In response to a recent email from a parishioner about the possibility of submitting questions to this meeting, Rural Dean Caspar Bush, ...