Save The Parish - Cornwall

Falmouth Packet 22 April 2026 Responding to a high level of local objection, the Church Commissioners will hold a hearing on the Diocese of Truro's controversial plan to create a giant new benefice in Kerrier, west Cornwall. Sir Robert Buckland, former Solicitor General for England and Wales and current Church of England third Estate Commissioner, will oversee proceedings. Click  here  to read an article in this week's Falmouth Packet. A total of 167 people opposed the plan in a consultation: just 22 people supported it, including the two stipendiary clergy proposed in the reorganisation. The Bishop of Truro, the Rt Rev David Williams, continues to support the plan, which proposes creating one giant benefice, replacing the current six benefices.   Kerrier deanery covers the entire Lizard peninsular as well as Porthleven and other churches west of Helston. Hearing details -Wednesday 13 May 2026 10.30am - 1.00pm. National Maritime Museum Cornwall, Falmouth TR11 3Q....

You may be forgiven for not having caught up with the Diocese of Truro's draft budget report for 2025. It has only just been posted up on the Diocesan website, in sharp contrast with previous years when Diocesan Secretary Simon Cade has circulated draft budgets several months in advance, asking for comment.  It's no surprise that Church House will have wanted to keep this under wraps - it's their own 'Halloween' budget.  This isn't a budget for radical change. Rather a budget to manage a Diocese in chaos. A budget with a worryingly large deficit and a plan to plug ever increasing holes with fast-diminishing reserves. To read the details - due to be discussed at the Diocesan Synod on 23 November 2024 - click here.   Click here to read the 2025 budget presentation notes. In the budget, the Diocese reneges on a public promise to Save The Parish Cornwall to stop a decline in clergy numbers: numbers are set to fall still further in 2025. Yet again, Church House costs...

 The Diocese of Truro's 2024 budget deficit will be 'closer to £5 million', significantly higher than the £3 million budgeted for, Director of Finance and Assets Sophie Eddy has reported to the Bishop's Diocesan Council. In a report to be discussed at the next Diocesan Synod (Saturday 23 November 2024), Eddy says 'This is almost entirely due to the significant increase in major works on parsonages to get them ready for the increased number of new clergy.' It is unclear when and where the 'increased number' will be appointed, as the draft budget envisages no rise in clergy numbers - click here to read . Eddy also reports a fall in the level of MMF (Mission and Ministry Fund) payment rates by churches,  which dipped to 95 per cent of budget in September 2024.  She reminded BDC members of 'the importance of achieving 100% rate to enable delivery of the Deanery plans'. The controversial On The Way deanery plans were championed by the former Bishop of...

Cornwall’s acting Bishop the Rt Rev Hugh Nelson now has more pen-pushing bureaucrats on the Church House payroll than priests in parishes. There is only one priest per 15,000 people in the county, a Save The Parish Cornwall analysis reveals. The news comes as a petition calling for a suspension in divisive radical reorganisation plans in the diocese burst through the significant 1,000 signature barrier this week. The petition, signed by 1,070 worried churchgoers in just a few weeks, warns that the plans - championed by Bishop Hugh and known as On The Way - will lead to sharply reduced stipendiary clergy numbers in Cornwall as Church House lay staff numbers rise. The diocese’ own records reveal that the number of stipendiary priests currently in post carrying out pastoral duties, conducting services, and “curing souls” in the county is at an all-time record low, just 39 for the 200 plus parishes and 300 churches. There are currently around 600,000 people living in Cornwall: this means ...

  Save The Parish Cornwall supporter Pam Dodd writes about the despair of ignored Cornish churchgoers (and non-churchgoers) "The chief danger that confronts the coming century will be religion without the Holy Ghost, Christianity without Christ, forgiveness without repentance, salvation without regeneration, politics without God, heaven without hell.” William Booth Founder of the Salvation Army  Someone once said something along the lines of “The Church of England exists for those who don’t go” or words to that effect. I’ve always understood it, up to a point, but it’s only since I’ve lived in Cornwall for the last 13 years that I have really heard, seen and felt it. Read on for the details. For the sake of argument, let’s do the unforgivable and include Cornwall in England. It’s accepted that Cornwall is either first or second in the “most rural county in the country” stakes. And not just rural, but a place which has only tenuous links with the rest of the country in so m...

We hand delivered our report ' Don't Turn Off The Lights, Bishops' to Lambeth Palace yesterday and recorded a video message for Archbishop Justin Welby. Click here for the message. Text of the letter is below - or click here to read.   20 December 2023 Dear Archbishop Welby Today we are hand delivering a report from Save The Parish Cornwall, calling for a moratorium on damaging and unpopular ‘On The Way’ plans. The report speaks for itself: it presents the testimonies of dozens of people across Cornwall who fear the changes are damaging and have little chance of success. Please listen to these people: people who want priests in parishes – not ‘oversight ministers’ and bureaucrats. Please consider the possibility that the Church Commissioners’ millions might be spent more usefully on vicars, not elaborate schemes for lay workers and mega benefices. The plans, micro-managed at every stage by the Bishop of St Germans, are being pushed through after minimal ...

  Michael Victor’s timely article in The Church Times, with superb accompanying cartoon by Bill Caldwell , exemplifies the dire actions of dioceses across the country. Our only criticism should be that the bruisers outside the door don’t look as threatening enough as in real life. Click here to read Michael Victor's article. For centuries, the followers of Christ have been known as a flock of sheep, with Jesus the Good Shepherd and ordained clergy acting as His deputies. The analogy is becoming more and more apt as we discover that dioceses across England, led by their bishops and approved by the Archbishop of Canterbury, are behaving more and more like packs of wolves. Wolves, the traditional enemy of sheep,   encircle them, cutting off their escape to their folds - their churches. We should remember that ultimately, sheep are killed and eaten, taken to the abattoir before being devoured. Elderly sheep are easy prey for wolves, which will eat them but prefer the juicy meat ...

A moratorium is possible, Bishop Save The Parish Cornwall's Andrew Lane has some constructive suggestions for the acting Bishop of Truro, the Rt Rev Hugh Nelson There is no disguising that 'On The Way' has been a distinctly poor example of public 'consultation'.There are now deep rifts in the Church particularly between the Diocese and the laity, there is despair and most disturbingly a great deal of distrust. We have to fix this. The former Bishop of Truro, the Rt Rev Bishop Philip Mounstephen has presided over this mess and has now shimmied off to new and unsuspecting pastures. This has left Bishop Hugh with a lot on his plate - for which we could all feel some sympathy - but it also affords him a great opportunity to heal division and right the sinking ship. To start at the beginning, what would have be the best way to conduct an On The Way process that would have involved all interested parties and stood the best chance of a successful outcome?  Act...

Wake up, Bishop Hugh! An evaluation of ‘ Transforming Wigan ’   - a controversial programme for change - has been published: click here to read an Executive Summary . And guess what, it is not a success.  "The evaluation of a project to transform Wigan into a “missional powerhouse” — which entailed the grouping of 33 churches in a single benefice has reported mixed success after seven years and the spending of £1.2 million," says the Church Times. Tis is serious news for Cornwall. Changes proposed for Diocese of Truro through controversial plans known as ‘On The Way’ are inspired by the Wigan ‘experiment’.  They build on Cornwall's own 'Transforming' initiative - aka 'Transforming Mission' -  i.e. moving ministry away from priests in parishes to large benefices with teams of 'workers' (Youth, Education, Pilgrimage etc) managed by an 'Oversight Minister'. Despite vociferous local opposition, they have been championed by the acting Bishop of...