Letters to the Editor | the Church Times

“Where is the accountability for such mismanagement? The Bishop of Grimsby is quoted as saying that Lincoln plans more clergy reductions, despite its being “the diocese that proved that cutting stipendiary clergy is disastrous”. Rather than embark on more restructuring of parishes, perhaps this diocese should be put into special measures, whereby (i) its bureaucracy is put into the hands of a financially competent diocese, (ii) all the ordained staff from Church House, including archdeacons, are put into parishes, and (iii) the space thereby made vacant in Church House is let out.”

Church faces a stark choice for the future | Paul Hackwood, Church Times

WE require a wider purpose and a broader vision. A rethinking of cura
animarum — the cure of souls — provides a good foundation. Although it has an
ancient and archaic ring, it is a surprisingly contemporary idea. Its origins are
Roman and about authority in a particular place; but its expression comes from the
Saxon idea of the Church’s underpinning the formation of the nation, as a function
of the spiritual, moral, and material welfare of the people.