Part 178. A sombre note.

The Church of England parish where I live has a tradition of being liberal in outlook, indeed an oasis in a desert of evangelical churches and a lone smells & bells outpost in the 'flying bishops' orbit. You might have expected liberals to gravitate to 'my' parish.  Sadly this is not the case. The church is in serious decline.  

The latest manifestation of this is the decision to close the Parish Fellowship. Once there were separate fellowships for men and women. They merged and now the combined fellowship will disappear.

There was a time when the parish employed a curate. No more: the curate's house has been sold to meet budgetary pressures. Pressures which continue.

Once the parish had five Readers, now a lone individual. The number of deputy churchwardens has reduced to two.

There was a time when the two church schools (voluntary aided infants and voluntary controlled juniors) had governing bodies ruled over by the incumbent.  The schools merged to become a primary school. More recently the incumbent and all the governors resigned en bloc.  The current school governors are all outsiders.

A sorry picture.  Rochester diocese is lumbered with a conservative evangelical bishop who is opposed to blessings of gay married couples and has paraded his antipathy in published letters.