Save The Parish - Cornwall

Radical parish re-organisation is planned in Kerrier, Penwith and East Wivelshire deaneries - and possibly others too. These moves will change the nature of the Church of England in Cornwall forever. It's important to resist pastoral re-organisation schemes as soon as they are published. You could strengthen your position by seeking help from potentially powerful allies with a strong ‘voice’ and influence with the Bishop.   Each parish has a patron. In many cases in Cornwall, this is the Bishop. But there are a few parishes with independent patrons. If the patron has not been consulted, it may be grounds for complaint when the schemes are issued. Parishes unhappy with proposals could write a letter something like the below. “Dear [Patrons’ name],  I am writing to you as the [e.g. churchwarden] of [name of church].  It is my understanding that you are our church’s patron.    I would like to bring to your attention that… [details].   It appears that this pro...

Devastating flaws in the Bishop of Truro's plans for giant benefices in Cornwall have been exposed by a top Save The Parish analyst. Admiral Sir James Burnell-Nugent , a member of Save The Parish's national committee, put the case very clearly to a packed public meeting at Truro Library on Monday. The sweeping pastoral reorganisations in On The Way schemes planned by the Rt Rev Philip Mounstephen and his team threaten to be a disaster, he said. They have failed elsewhere and they will fail here. Read on for the full text: I want to dwell on three reasons why mega-parishes are a very bad idea. And then I want to encourage you to stand up against them: · First reason - there is no financial need for the Bishop of Truro to be doing this to your much loved parishes. · Second reason - these large structures of mega parishes such as are being proposed across the diocese from Kerrier to East Wivelshire are very unlikely to work as intended. They will not bring fruitfuln...

We have uploaded as many plans as possible so that people in different parts of Cornwall can find out what's going on elsewhere. Up to now, this has not been the case. The Diocese has rolled out the On The Way process on a piecemeal basis so that many people have been completely unaware what has been going on in neighbouring deaneries. Some have voted for plans in which they have no confidence - simply because they have been told that there was no choice. They were told that the Bishop of St Germans, the Rt Rev Hugh Nelson, would approve the plans if they didn't. Powder Deanery Plan Click here to read   Trigg Minor Deanery Plan Click here to read Kerrier Deanery Plan Click here to read This plan was passed by the narrowest of margins .At the meeting of the Kerrier Deanery Synod on 23 rd  September 2022, at which the Deanery Plan was presented for approval, the secret ballot as recorded in the Minutes was:   For the Plan:      14 Against:  ...

Just before Christmas, Cornwall's Bishops issued an extraordinary document relating to their 'On The Way' programme - entitled  'Next Steps On The Way  - Frequently Asked Questions' . This document was distributed to Parochial Church Councils across Cornwall - to the bewilderment of many.  Click here to read it. Why were people puzzled? Because this is a diocese-originated FAQ document simply defending a diocese-originated plan. Here is Save The Parish's response: There is no mention of any specific parish or deanery in this document. It’s all coming top-down from the diocese. ·        On page 2, re closing churches, the threat is less the boarding-up or selling of church buildings, more the very real threat of churches being rendered moribund by infrequent use. A church that has a service once a month is hardly ‘open’ by most people’s definition. What does it communicate about the importance of a church, that a priest is only sent there o...

Locked out Merrymeet villagers sing carols in rain... Bishop delivers his Christmas message from his armchair Villagers in Merrymeet, east Cornwall, braved rain and freezing temperatures to hold carols on a local drive this weekend after Truro's Bishops closed their church this autumn and changed the locks. As they sang in the cold and wet, the Bishop of Truro recorded an upbeat Christmas message from the comfort of his front room. Under a hastily-built shelter, villagers gathered around a sound system in a garage for their Christmas celebration - yards from the church which was closed in mid October and the locks changed despite strong local opposition. Last year, due to Covid, they sang carols outside the church. This year, they had hoped to be inside. This was not to be. "Even though the weather was far from ideal our carol service still went ahead and was well attended," said Residents' Association chairman Peter Luck. "Approximately 30 turned up to sing an...

The Diocese of Truro's major restructuring and clergy-cutting exercise On The Way is felt nowhere more keenly in Penwith, one of the first deaneries to vote through an unpopular and challenging restructuring plan.  The Episcopal College recently failed to recruit a Rural Dean responsible for a new 'split' deanery into East Side and West Side and oversee parish re-organisation : only one application was received. What are the proposals on the table? How and why has this situation developed? Our Bishops, sadly, share the view of others in the hierarchy of the Church of England that there is little future for parishes as a means of delivering the Gospel. Key to this has been a national paper called the 'Mission and Pastoral Measure' which argued that congregations with an average congregation of 20 or fewer were unviable. A way forward was proposed - concentrating clergy and financial resources in 'Transforming Mission hubs in some cities and towns. (In 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...