Save our parish priests!
by Emma Thompson, Spectator:
Go to your parish church this Easter, because the clock is ticking for small and rural parishes. Even if the beauty of holiness is conspicuously absent, even if numbers are low and you feel a sinking sense of being the last person standing on the burning deck, go. That is, if your church is still open and you still have a vicar.
I do – and he will heroically be taking services in all six (!) of his churches from dawn till dusk on Easter Day. However, many of the Church of England’s (CoE) 42 diocesan administrations are cutting paid clergy jobs. In Bath & Wells, 178 parish clergy will apparently become 128; in Hereford, 72 will become 55. Priests are being asked to ‘oversee’ even more parishes.
Thus, even fewer churches can have weekly Sunday services. The Church’s own growth studies From Anecdote to Evidence and Going Deeper show that parish amalgamations reduce attendance and giving. A 2022 church attendance report confirmed it’s not rocket science: if you don’t hold a church service, nobody comes. Churches left unattended become more vulnerable to crime.
Read here (£)
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