“Bishops are not intended to be missionary bishops, but pastoral bishops, shepherds of the local shepherds. The point of the parochial system led by bishops was to provide pastoral care for every locality. When that original view of the Church of England was followed, there were more parish clergy, more attending churches and less bureaucracy.”
"[The archbishops] must also follow up on their commitment to consider what I think is fundamentally wrong with the parish system: there are too many dioceses. It is impossible to justify the present 42 when, 200 years ago, in the Church’s heyday, there were 26."
Frontline parish ministry is tough and getting tougher. Clergy cuts mean ever greater demands on the dwindling band of vicars or ‘priests-in-charge’ often running around several churches. How many CofE bishops know how it feels looking after multiple churches with the growing burden of bureaucratic demands from diocesan HQs?"
BRUTAL cuts” to clergy posts in the diocese of Truro are on the horizon, a group of concerned parishioners has warned. The group of eight, from four of the diocese’s 12 deaneries, includes several PCC members and a lay member of the General Synod.
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