The Parish Church of St. Peter and St. Paul Fareham – A History of Invasion
The priest-in-charge retired on 1st October 2023.
The Bishop arrived the following Sunday 8th October 2023 to announce to the congregation that he had made arrangements for them to transfer to the Church of the Holy Spirit in Southsea, (another Resolution parish) as their church was to be closed at Epiphany. A proposed new church plant which was to come and ‘revitalise’ the church which would be incompatible with their existing traditional style of worship and so they would need to relocate elsewhere.
The following Sunday 15th October 2023 the Archdeacon arrived to do a ‘mopping up’ operation and justify the decision.
A member of the congregation enquired of the Diocesan legal officer whether the legal measures required had been followed. The lawyer said they were unable to help because they represented the Diocese and this would have been a clash of interests. It would appear that this concern was raised with the Diocese because a week or two later the Bishop returned, apologising profusely, explaining there was a stay of execution, and that there would be a way of continuing traditional worship in the Eucharist in the Lady Chapel. That promise is still unconfirmed in writing and no guarantees given that this will take place on a Sunday.
During Lent members of the congregation were invited to a coffee morning at the Bishop’s house ‘to express their concerns.’ It was reported that concerns were expressed but not responded to as the Bishop spoke at length about his ‘vision’ and then left early for another appointment. Leaving the Archdeacon, Area Dean and Bishop’s Chaplain to listen and respond.
At the time of writing the church continues to meet on a Sunday for a Parish Sung Mass with an average congregation of 20-24 communicants. There is a monthly 10.30 weekday mass in the Lady Chapel with approximately 10 communicants. One confirmation has taken place and two other candidates are being prepared. There have also been some baptisms.
The newly appointed parish priest of Saint John’s Church, who is to have oversight of the new plant, has begun to take one service a month with the aim of ‘easing’ the plant in. It needs to be noted that the PCC has not been asked to agree to the suspension of the Benefice or a Plurality being formed. The PCC of St. John’s appear to have been consulted but not so the PCC of St. Peter and St. Paul. Some members of the congregation were informed by the visiting priest from St. John’s that the church will be emptied of pews and the main altar removed to make way for a worship group. “It will be loud and noisy and you will hate it.”
The church warden and PCC appear not to have been given any further information or timetable.
Our letter to Church Times was published on 27th May 2017 describing the invasion of the parish church of St Thomas’s Heigham Norwich by HTB and what happened. It can be read on the CT website. St Thomas’s has ceased to be a parish church. There is no notice board outside the church with details of services, vicar’s name etc. The interior of the church has been vandalised with all furniture removed and the altar hidden behind ugly screens. The fine organ is disused, neglected and deteriorating. The church is locked except when services are taking place. The people of this part of Norwich have been deprived of their parish church.
Sir/Madam, I fear that being rather North of eighty tears old my views will be considered dated and unrealistic. When I left school aged 15 or 16ish and being in the Midlands I started work, as a pen-pusher in a car factory, followed a year or so later by being ‘Called Up’ – verily the bad old days!
Various phrases from those times spring to mind, viz: “The lunatics have taken over the asylum’, ‘It’s enough to make you eat tin tacks and pee rust’ and, in cod Latin, ‘ Nil Illigitimi carborundum’.
To some extent I am rather relieved that being so old I know where I stand and I do not have to sort out this bunch of idiots who seem to feel that anything different must be better.
We have been told that Series 1, 2 and 3 would fill the Churches. Likewise the ordination of women (BTW I do not oppose this). All that seems to be happening now is managing, and frequently encouraging, decline in Church membership.
Some say that our archaic language is the problem, perhaps, but the RSC seems to be doing OK.
I wish I knew all the answers, but I don’t. However, some of the proposed solutions and slogans sound very patronising and Mickey Mouse. Hardly intellectually stimulating.