Church of England can’t blame social media for its failings
by Emma Thompson
Next week the Church of England’s General Synod will be presented with a report that explores ways of restoring trust in the church. It is an important issue: trust has to be nurtured and, once broken, is extremely difficult to win back.
The church acknowledges it has a culture of distrust. But, as The Times reported on Wednesday, the report’s authors appear to put much of the blame on social media, warning that too much use leaves people “in danger of becoming stupid”. Since more than four-fifths of people use social media, implying that they might be stupid hardly seems the way to build bridges.
As a grassroots churchgoer, I sense a fatal lack of self-awareness. During the pandemic there was a breakdown of public trust, a sense of abandonment when churches were closed. In recent years we have seen a collapse in clergy morale and mental health, with low stipends (pay) and, shockingly, a high suicide rate.
Parishes are left vicarless for years. Diocesan (regional) administrators treat churchgoers disrespectfully and do not spend donated money wisely. New schemes for parish reorganisation may camouflage an intention to sell your vicarage and trouser the proceeds. In my parents’ Hampshire village, diocesan employees promised the churchwarden they would not sell the vicarage, then did it anyway.
We need the church to provide love, solace and hope. But I couldn’t even trust the church to provide a vicar we knew to take my father’s funeral.
Trust requires honesty, consistency and reliability. Spin doctors have undermined our trust in politicians. We do not trust a politician who lays out plans for scrutiny using impenetrable language, or one who is inconsistent or fails to keep promises. But balderdash and obfuscation are even more repugnant in the church, which should set standards in public life.
Church leaders assert “there is no national plan” to undermine the parish system, on the basis that the dioceses are autonomous. However, there is a national “vision and strategy” plan, featured on the home page of the church’s website, with which funding applications have to conform. The effect of this plan is to drive parishes to destruction; and to claim otherwise is a fundamental breach of trust.
Trust starts locally, with family and friends, working outwards and upwards. The church can only rebuild trust gradually, at local level, by providing love, compassion and pastoral care. Give us back our parish vicars and then we can talk about trust.
