AN Wilson believes that the Church has lost its soul in the rectory sell off. Thousands of parsonages, now privately owned, once gave every town and village a centre of spirituality and learning. The CofE forgot what it was for, and what a bit of England was for.
“This was not the first time Sir James has intervened in the debate over the future direction of the national Church. In a letter to The Times in October last year, he called Leicester diocese’s decision ‘to fold 234 parishes into the embrace of 20 to 25 huge groups’ a ‘sad day for the Church of England’.
He accused the CofE of behaving ‘like a socialist republic: demanding increasing “tax” (parish share) from dwindling numbers of churchgoers, then spending too much of it on its own bureaucracy. Moreover, as The Times reported last month, in 2017-2020 it spent £248 million on “renewal and reform” projects that failed to increase church attendance.”
This Christmas Eve, when people pour out of the pub and head in a delightful whisky-and-ginger fug to Midnight Mass to belt out their old favourites, they could get a…
The Government grant system for impoverished churches was handed over to the National Lottery. Since then funding has fallen around 80%. Should the UK government follow France and Germany’s example…
“In 1959 the Church employed 13,075 stipendiary clergy and 250 diocesan support staff. There are now 6,500 support staff, most of whom are not ordained and have no contact with…
From The Church Times: The decline in church attendance of almost one quarter between 2019 and 2022 may be the result of reduced supply rather than lower demand. A new report suggests…
“Much recent C of E decline appears driven by a culture at the centre deficient in evidence-based decision-making. The result is that, perversely, parishes are neglected. “Following the money” (as…