Save The Parish - Cornwall

As the number of posts on this blog grows - and reports become perhaps ever more technical - a pause for thought to recap and clarify what Save The Parish is all about.  In essence, it's quite simple - rebalancing resources towards parishes.  People within Save The Parish may have different views - but we all prioritise the parish A renewal of the close local ties between parishioners, regardless of their faith, with their parish priest so as to reinvigorate appealring forms of worship in church, and pastoral care for all  Benefices covered by one priest should be of a manageable number of parishes - as the word 'parish' in commonly understood, generally with one church building and one priest per parish. The core of the parish should be solely related to the stipend, national insurance, house and a fair pension contribution. Other costs should not amount to more than 15% of this figure.  Parishes with difficulty in meeting the parish share should be helped, not thre...

The Diocese of Truro has finally published draft Minutes for the 19 November 2022 Diocesan Synod which include debate over the controversial 2023 budget. Click here to download. Strong challenges were made  - some points so telling that one TDBF (Truro Diocesan Board of Finance) member requested that they be deleted from the Minutes. Andrew Hicks, apparently unaware of his duties as a Charity Trustee and Company Director, said that remarks by Martin Saunders of Pydar Deanery be deleted from the Minutes 'as they were not questions'.  Happily, he was over-ruled by the Synod lay chair Robert Perry.   Mr Saunders' points have been reproduced in full (alongside Mr Hicks' request).  Mr Saunders called this a depressing budget for the management of change. His key points were:

Despite grass-roots opposition, the most controversial On The Way plan in Cornwall is inching forward with Diocesan officials ignoring local unease. At a meeting in Mawgan on Wednesday 29 March about 40 Parochial Church Council members from across the deanery discussed the next step in their On The Way plan. Many were surprised at the turn events had taken. On the agenda: the need to set up a Community Interest Company (CIC) to employ the new workers.  Kerrier Deanery's On The Way plan proposes a giant benefice - a mega parish - of 23 churches, overseen by a newly appointed rural dean, the Rev Heidi Huntley and employing several lay workers. This 'need' to set up a CIC had not previously been mentioned by the Diocese, which up to now has directly employed 'lay workers' - e.g. at Transforming Mission in Falmouth.  Church House is not, however, prepared to employ the new lay workers, for reasons that remain unclear. Neither Archdeacon Paul Bryer nor the Director of Ch...

Another press report on the push back in Cornwall against our Bishops' controversial - and irreversible -  plans for change.  These On The Way plans - which are being rolled out in church communities without proper consultation  - will change the nature of the C of E in the county forwever. Click here to read the article in Conservative Woman. The On The Way plans promote the 'resource church' model - which research shows has failed elsewhere . The most shocking example of this - and a planned 'mega benefice' - is in Kerrier, where the On The Way plan envisages 23 churches overseen by one rural dean (recently appointed, who will live in Helston). This plan - which threatens to change the nature of church life in the area forever - was only narrowly passed in a secret ballot on 23 rd September 2022 - with 14 for the plan, 11 against and three abstentions.  

 Another good letter from Pam Dodd in this week's Cornishman. The Bishop of Truro's restructuring plans for Cornish parishes will cause untold damage.  Pam has written previously on this subject to the local press - and beyond. Click here to read . The text of her latest letter is below:         Dear Editor It would be easy for people to think that if a few parish churches in Cornwall close, it’s no loss. Parish churches are not just places where a few people go to worship on Sundays.   Their loss would leave significant holes in many more lives than might at first appear. Even the smallest congregations take collections for charities, whilst a great many host fund-raising activities for others, even when their buildings badly need repair, for example: weekly coffee mornings attended by people for whom this might be their only contact with others, particularly the elderly, warmth hubs children's activities hosting events for C...

 We've long suspected it  - but here's the proof. The template and the choreography all spelled out. This carefully planned timetable is how our Cornish Bishops go through the motions on deanery visits - avoiding challenging questions about their plans by allocating minimal time to open discussion.  It's the same at every single deanery visit. Click here for accounts of previous visits, curiously and inaccessibly scheduled on Saturday afternoons. The Bishops' next visit will be to Carnmarth South on 29 April 2023 - again from 4pm to 6pm on a Saturday.

  An excellent article here by Pam Thornbury. The Bishops of Truro and St Germans are proposing changes that will change the nature of church life in Cornwall forever.  And worse - they are doing it without proper consultation.