Friday, November 27, 2015

Rural vicars ‘drowning’ amid battle to keep empty churches open


Clergy warn they are 'drowning' under pressure of maintaining medieval buildings as Church of England debates future of rural parishes

Rural clergy warned they are close to "drowning" under the pressure of maintaining multiple medieval buildings with dwindling congregations as the Church of England considers radical plans to scale back its ancient parish network to cope with decline.

But the bishop overseeing a review into the future of the 16,000 Anglican places of worship warned against “Dr Beeching-type cuts” with thousands of little-used parish buildings effectively closed.

The Bishop of Worcester, the Rt Rev John Inge, insisted that such a mass closure would send out a signal that the Church and Christianity itself had “had their day in this country”. Read more

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