Save The Parish - Cornwall

Last Christmas villagers in Merrymeet, east Cornwall, gathered around their village church porch for joyous carol-singing – glad to be together after the Covid lockdowns, even if still outside. This year – no such luck. They’ll be gathering on the concrete driveway of one of the village’s 60 houses to try and raise Yuletide cheer. It was the same for last month’s Remembrance Sunday - they were reduced to standing in the road and decorating the church gates with poppies to honour local war dead. Why? Because Cornwall’s Bishops and Archdeacons shut the church in October and changed the locks so no-one could enter, whatever the reason. Menheniot’s media savvy priest in charge Rev Becca Bell, who oversees the historic Mission Church and five others in south east Cornwall, celebrated the last service on 9 October 2022. “ The weight of privilege and sadness and hope is huge ,” the self-described ‘wife, mum, film lover, gin drinker, knitter and miniatures enthusiast’ said on Twitter afterward...

If you are worried about developments in Cornwall - plans for radical parish re-organisation and our Bishops' drive towards 'Transforming Mission hubs' in the Diocese of Truro - then please think about writing to your MP. Save The Parish is organising a meeting at the Houses of Parliament on 25 April 2023 at 6pm. It will be led by Chris Loder, MP for west Dorset. We are keen for as many MPs as possible to attend so they can learn about what's happening in Cornwall - and elsewhere in the country. Anyone can contact their MP at any time. If you do not know your MP's email address, you can find it via this l ink.   FIND YOUR MP Please think about writing. Below is a suggested template with a Cornish angle for you to work with - and add any details you wish. I am worried about the future of our parish churches in Cornwall and am writing to ask for your support with a campaign that I have joined: ‘Save The Parish’. There is a meeting taking place in Committee Room 14 at ...

Penwith Deanery's radical On The Way deanery plan has stumbled at the first fence as the national  advertisement for a rural dean to oversee its implementation only attracted one applicant. This is a bit of an embarrassment for Truro's Episcopal College. The post will be re-advertised - and possibly rewritten, according to local sources. The original ad sought an incumbent with almost super human powers - click here to read the job description. The new Rural Dean would be priest of three churches (Gulval, Madron and Heamoor) while overseeing the implementation of a controversial restructuring plan creating two super parishes - east Penwith and west Penwith  - and simultaneously hiring a flotilla of new posts in an extensive 'support team'. So no wonder just one applicant.  On The Way confusion as diocesan leadership fails Across west Cornwall and beyond, congregations are confused and uncertain as the diocese fails to make the way forward clear and engage in adequat...

Bishop of Truro, Presidential Address at Diocesan Synod, May 2022 It is sometimes hard to keep up with the twists and turns in the Bishops' narrative around 'On The Way' - their major restructuring plan in Cornwall.  Back at the May 2022 Diocesan Synod the Bishop of Truro, the Rt Rev Philip Mounstephen, said press reports suggesting that  'I am setting up some kind of central unit in Church House under the leadership of the Director of Change and Renewal'  were ' fanciful '. However - despite the Bishop's statement - a central unit has indeed been set up.  Following the appointment of Ruth Marriott, the Director of Change and Renewal, yet another post is being advertised for this unit. As a recent email (dated 18 November 2022) from head of Church House operations Kate Cortez confirms: We are now advertising for a Communications and Influence Officer. This role is managed by Ruth M but works across the Change & Renewal and Comms teams and will be sup...

The main issue Save The Parish has with the Diocese of Truro's plans is that we believe they are addressing the wrong question from the wrong perspective - too often misusing wrong information to justify their actions. In effect, the Bishops of Truro and St Germans publicly argue that they are making a ‘business case’ for ‘growing’ the church in Cornwall. But no genuine company seriously trying to turn round a struggling business model has ever succeeded by axing their sales staff, closing down outlets, and effectively telling customers to change their buying habits because they don’t know what’s best for them. In this case, STP believes that this is what is happening to the vicars and their parishes and churches, and churchgoers and local communities in Cornwall. What the Bishops want Our Bishops are set on a certain ideological trajectory i.e. developing a ‘mission church’ model at the expense of rural parishes and in doing so are burning through its (OUR) financial asse...

BBC Radio Cornwall throws a spotlight on Cornish bishops' plans to change the nature of church life in Cornwall. It made fully public at last that there are plans to cut clergy posts and merge parishes.  In some cases, one priest may be in charge of more than 20 parishes.  Click here to listen to the piece - aired at 710am on Sunday 20 November.

Mullion Church is in the heart of the village – the largest on the Lizard peninsular - and central to life there. Outside is a tree festooned with blue and yellow ribbons in support of the people of Ukraine. By the gate is a noticeboard filled with news of village activities.  On the cover of a 2023 calendar for sale at the local café? A photograph of the church.  Yet Mullion Church's future and priest is at risk through Kerrier's controversial OnThe Way deanery plan which will see a huge super parish stretching across the deanery under just one rural dean (currently being recruited). Chillingly the plan (page 17) says God has been saying in the On The Way process 'We don't need lone leaders but a team of lay and ordained leaders'. In fact good parish priests are not and never have been lone leaders. They build up a team from their church congregation and sometimes the wider community and together serve the whole parish. Save The Parish Cornwall has received a po...