Save The Parish - Cornwall

Save The Parish Cornwall's Andrew Lane (tongue firmly in cheek) puts forward a few ideas on what could constructively be done following the Archbishop of Canterbury's announcement that  £3.6 billion was to be pumped into rural parishes to help them survive .  Inspired by Truro's  Diocesan Secretary Simon Cade's recent letter to the people of Cornwall  which dashed any such hopes, Andrew picked up his pen and dared to dream....... Regarding the new funding from the Archbishops et al, I note that it is going to be directed towards projects . These projects must reach ‘the young and poor .....better representing the communities we serve’ , must aid in ‘transition to lower carbon...........making a step change in social justice’ and will bolster general safeguarding. I here propose a novel project suitable for many rural communities. First form a group of people dedicated to the spiritual health of their parish. Let’s call it a Parish Committee. Seek to acquire an u...

 Residents in Merrymeet, east Cornwall, are keeping up the fight to save St Mary's Church, which is threatened with closure by the Diocese of Truro as this article in the latest edition of the Cornish Times explains. They say - rightly - that their forebears contributed funds to build the church.  The current inhabitants of Merrymeet believe their concerns should be heard. Not something that is happening at the moment.

It was gratifying to see how much the Bishop of Truro took to heart the views of Save The Parish Cornwall in his address to the DiocesanSynod on 28 May 2022.  The campaign’s message against his draconian OnThe Way cost cutting programme was clearly heard. On The Way involves clergy redundancies which threaten the closure of historic churches, while millions are at the same time being poured into controversial ‘mission church’ programmes – known as Transforming Mission (sometimes in the same deanery). However, the speech by the Rt. Rev. Philip Mounstephen, Bishop of Truro - as well as other comments at the Synod by the Bishop of St Germans, the Rt. Rev. Hugh Nelson - still left much unsaid about the future of the priesthood in the diocese. Both proved the continuing need for the full, honest and transparent scrutiny of diocesan finances that the Save the Parish campaign has been calling for in Cornwall. STP is calling for full disclosure of the budgets and actual expenditure ...

If you thought it was too good to be true, you were right. Many in Cornwall and elsewhere were delighted when the Archbishop of Canterbury announced in May that the Church of England is to pump £3.6bn directly into its 12,500 parishes over the next nine years - rather than urban churches. To the relief of many,  Justin Welby , and the Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, admitted the C of E had been heavy-handed in concentrating funds on urban churches in recent years. “Allocating money in the past was perhaps, if we’re honest, a bit too driven from the centre. Now we’re trusting the dioceses much more,” said Cottrell. Alas.  In Cornwall, this was just pie in the sky. How do we know? Truro Diocesan Secretary Simon Cade has revealed all.  In fact, just like before, in the Diocese of Truro this money will in fact be grabbed by the Bishops of Truro and St Germans to fund their pet mission projects. 

A response by the Bishop of St Germans, the Rt Rev Hugh Nelson,  to a request at last Saturday's Diocesan Synod for transparency over Transforming Mission finances is reproduced below. Bishop Hugh did not directly respond to the request to provide the original sustainability model spreadsheets. We would be interested to hear of people's responses to this statement.  Bishop Hugh repeated figures produced by the Diocese earlier in the month relating to vastly increased youth work in Camborne Cluster following Transforming Mission.   These figures contradict a Diocesan document produced in October 2018, which details extensive youth work across Camborne Cluster   before the Transforming Mission programme was started there in 2019. TRURO DIOCESAN SYNOD    28/5/22   9/1     Question under Standing Orders, Vivian Hall Altarnun w Bolventor, Trigg Major Deanery Synod, and General Synod 'Can you please provide the original su...

The Bishop of Truro has repeatedly said in recent days that ‘Bishops don’t close churches’ as they don't have the power. They only close churches on the instigation of local people. He repeated this yesterday (Sunday 29 March on Anoushka William’s Sunday Show on BBC Cornwall radio.) The villagers of Merrymeet in east Cornwall - where St Mary’s Mission Church faces closure - have had a very different experience. Peter Luck, head of the residents' association, explains In today’s world it is interesting how the word ‘community’ is used: ‘community funding’, ‘communities pulling together’, ‘community workshops’, ‘congregational community’, ‘village community’. You get the idea. Here in Merrymeet we do not have a village shop or village pub or any ‘community hub’. We have a fight on our hands: to keep St. Mary’s Mission Church from closing this coming September. This building is in the middle of our little village and serves us all as a place of worship and a well-used communi...

  The Bishop of Truro, the Rt. Rev Philip Mounstephen, announced a change of direction today for his diocese - reeling from his painful housekeeping process called  On The Way . The process of On The Way , which encourages deaneries to come up with cost-cutting plans, will now be 'integrated' with Transforming Mission , he said in his presidential address at the Diocesan Synod at St Erme, Cornwall.  Transforming Mission is a multi-million pound resource church programme - funded by the Church Commissioners - being rolled out in five towns in Cornwall.  The Bishop had faced criticism for imposing his On The Way clergy cuts, while pouring Church Commissioners' riches into Transforming Mission. On The Way and Transforming Mission (TM) would henceforth be brought together under one 'overall project board, chaired by the Bishop of St Germans, the Rt Rev Hugh Nelson, the Bishop said.  He gave no further details of what this would entail and how the project board woul...