Save The Parish - Cornwall

A damning assessment by MPs of Cornwall's Bishops' plans to change the Church of England in Cornwall was broadcast on TV across the South West today. BBC1's Sunday morning Politics SouthWest delved deep into the Diocese of Truro's controversial 'On The Way' plans under which parish priests will be cut across the county and replaced by 'oversight ministers' managing large numbers of parishes and teams of lay project workers. Click here to view - the segment starts at minute 20. Diane Thomas from Sancreed Church in Penwith deanery told the programme that her church had not had a vicar for nine years. The Rt Rev Hugh Nelson, Bishop of St Germans, Hugh Nelson admitted for the first time that Truro's On The Way plans WILL mean “slightly fewer clergy”. He also admitted that the “very wealthy” national Church of England is freeing up large sums of money for churches. "The church does have (money), it's very wealthy .... some of that is being free...

Cornish churchgoers’ deep concerns about the Diocese of Truro’s plans to slash clergy numbers and radically reorganise parishes were aired at a meeting in Parliament packed with people from across the country and at least 35 MPs. The meeting on Tuesday in the Houses of Parliament was organised by Save The Parish nationally for parliamentarians and concerned churchgoers to hear countrywide complaints over the Church of England’s radical reorganisation activities. MP Chris Loder (West Dorset), chairing the meeting, said that because of the pandemic “Parliament has been asleep at the wheel” in its constitutional oversight recently of the Church of England but that that would now change in light of the widespread concerns revealed both at last night’s meeting and elsewhere. "Although mainly Conservative MPs have spoken and offered support here tonight for STP and shown real interest in these issues, please don’t be mistaken - I know that that support is cross party and growing," ...