Save The Parish - Cornwall

 A message from Save The Parish national steering committee member Emma Thompson We hope you had a very Happy Easter.    Your parish at Easter Please do send us your parish stories, showing any ways in which your parish demonstrated its value to local people this weekend.  On Easter Day, my Rector took a service in each of his churches and was busy all day, driving the lit Easter candle around in his car between villages.  I amateurishly conducted my parish church choir in a joyous rendition of Cecil Cope's anthem "He is Risen".  Four young adults who were home for the Easter weekend, including one of my sons, rejoined the choir.  I feel and hope that this illustrated the value to them of rootedness in a place and still feeling a sense of "belonging".     Press  You may like to see this PDF of my Easter Day piece for the online Spectator.  If you are a Spectator subscriber, please feel free to add an online comment he...

Clergy figures in Cornwall (at an all-time low of 38) are mentioned - as are the 19 vacancies unfulfilled.  These figures were given to Save The Parish Cornwall by the Diocese at the start of February 2024. Click on this link to read the full article - two full pages inside the Sunday supplement.

After two years in York to tie in with General Synod, this year it is the West Country’s turn.  Save The Parish's annual conference will be on Saturday 20 April at St Thomas’ Church, Redcliffe, BS1 6JG Bristol. The church is a 10 minute walk from Temple Meads train station.  Lunch will be at midday and Bishop Andrew Rumsey will speak at 12.45. There will be a panel of speakers in the afternoon discussing their experiences in the restructuring of parishes within the Church of England. The day will end with Evensong in the Church followed by drinks. 20 April, 12pm-5.30pm St Thomas’ Church, Thomas Lane Bristol, BS1 6JG United Kingdom Click here for a free ticket to this event All welcome.

Tomorrow's Church Times (22 March 2024) gives a detailed breakdown of full-time stipendiary parish incumbents in Cornwall. The worryingly low figures had been revealed in a report by Save The Parish Cornwall but strongly contested by the Diocese of Truro. Madeleine Davies's piece puts the record straight, showing how STPC had compiled its figures. These figures - confirmed by the Diocese - showed that clergy numbers were at an all-time low at end December 2023, and staff at Church House were outnumbering full-time stipendiary priests in parishes. Click here to read.

Local newspapers (Reach Group) in Cornwall covered the debate raging this week over clergy numbers in the Diocese of Truro . A Save The Parish Cornwall report has revealed that, at the end of December 2023, the Diocese employed more administrators at Church House, Truro, than clergy.  Read on for the Editorial column published in Cornish newspapers alongside coverage of the report.  

 

  Click here to read a recent leaflet from Save The Parish.