Please support Save The Parish Cornwall by making a Representation
For some years the Diocese of Truro has been implementing a programme called ‘On the Way’. In broad terms it seeks to reorganise parishes across Cornwall into large groupings, some under an Oversight Minister and some with Team Ministries. This is a deeply unpopular, highly controversial programme and is being vigorously opposed by Save The Parish Cornwall. Their blog is here – https://savetheparish.blogspot.com/
The largest such proposed grouping is Kerrier Deanery, which comprises all 23 churches in the Lizard Peninsula. There are also 5 CofE primary schools and 9 care homes. Travel around the area is notoriously difficult, especially in the Summer.
The Draft Pastoral Scheme (as it is called) proposes to place all these churches into a single benefice with just two stipendiary clergy – a Rector and a Vicar. There may be Curates in addition. This proposal is now with the Church Commissioners for public consultation. The Church Commissioners can send the Scheme back to the Bishop for reconsideration, or the Bishop could withdraw the Scheme. At this stage anybody in England can make a Representation. The Scheme is published here – Proposals affecting the benefices of the Kerrier deanery – Constantine; Helston and Wendron; Meneage; Mullion and Cury with Gunwalloe; St Keverne, St Ruan with St Grade and Landewednack; and The United Benefice of West Kerrier – in the diocese of Truro | The Church of England
Representations can be made using the link on the website “I would like to make a Representation”, or by email to rex.andrew@churchofengland.org, or by post. The closing date is Monday 15th September.
If you have experience of being in a large benefice with few clergy, where there is limited pastoral care and much reduced regular Sunday Services, especially Holy Communion – then please make a Representation explaining why these large groupings do not work. There is a growing body of evidence that these amalgamations lead to a doom loop of reducing church attendance, decline in pastoral care and deteriorating finances. They fail to deliver the Church of England strapline of ‘A Christian Presence in Every Community’. Many dioceses, including Truro, are ignoring this evidence and pressing on with large parish groupings. If you can add evidence of your own experience that these large groupings do not work, it would be extremely helpful to any parish unhappily facing the prospect of a merger – particularly those in the Lizard Peninsula.
A short email is all that is needed. Please start your email by stating “I wish to make a Representation against the Draft Pastoral Scheme for the proposed Benefice of Kerrier, in the Diocese of Truro.” Then give a clear explanation of why you are against such an idea – with as much ‘on the ground’ evidence as possible. Please be courteous, factual, kind and constructive for that is the best way to be heard.
There are national implications to this, which is why we are appealing to all our registered supporters. The more of us who can stand up to these mergers into ‘mega-parishes’ – especially with evidence from our own experience – the better the chance of major reconsideration in many dioceses.
Please help by making a Representation. Thank you.
I have experience of this dereliction of duty on the part of the church of England in Cornwall, which has seen parishes consumed into larger and larger mission communities – or ‘ clusters’ as they tend to be called in the Truro diocese. Torpoint, my own home parish is similarly now part of a large cluster and as a parish church in its own tight in a large town, is not able to give the witness it should, and people are deprived of the regular celebration of the Eucharist – the one hub and celebration for which Christians have come together to worship since the time of the apostles. I am lucky in that in my retirement I have moved into a flat in Plymouth ( Exeter diocese) where now I can not only walk across the road and attend the Eucharist every Sunday but also have the opportunity to do so daily. This seldom if ever happens in Cornwall and I know of many folk from Cornwall who now travel quite some distance into Devon in order to be able to attend the Eucharist. Two retired priests from Cornwall similarly come over to Devon for the same reason. One went to his Cornish parish church on a Sunday where the Sunday activities of worship consisted of a coffee morning punctuated with a 10 minute break for prayers !!! What has the church of England come to. Are we offering the faithful substantial food for their spiritual welfare or simply fobbing them off with the weakest form of gruel ? We need to encourage vocations and get back to teaching the faith and making adequate provision for the sacraments to be celebrated in every parish. Where it is impossible to maintain a weekly Sunday Eucharist, ensure that there is a nearby provision that folk can get to , and ensure that there is at least one weekday celebration in every church within the cluster. The elderly, especially,are being denied the faith they have practiced all their lives, particularly if they are in nursing homes with no visit from a priest or a parishioner authorised to bring them holy communion as a eucharistic minister. Wake up church of England. You desert the parish at your peril.