THE parish is “essential” and is not under threat, the Archbishop of Canterbury has said.In an interview for the Church Times, Archbishop Welby responded to the Save the Parish campaign by stating: “There is no ‘threat’ to the parish...There is no conspiracy to abolish the parish.”It was “rubbish”, he said, to suggest that the parish system was outdated. “We are the Church for England. If we are going to be for England, we have to be in every community, or as many as we can possibly manage. We have to be open to every person, not just the congregation, precious as they are.”He continued: “I am not just in favour of the parish, I am passionate that the parish is essential.” He was sympathetic to clergy and laity currently struggling, especially after the pandemic. He described his ten years as a parish priest in Coventry diocese as “far more stressful than what I do now”.During the interview, the Archbishop conceded that the money invested for church growth “has not so far” produced results. “If that happens, it happens. But it’s not us who grow the Church. It’s God who grows the Church.”His message to clergy and laypeople was: “We can only do what God enables us to do, and the rest is his problem. So, if you can’t do things, don’t be guilty. . . Keep a sane home life, and keep up with your friends, and do what you can having done that, and spend time with God in prayer.”Church-planting initiatives such as Myriad were “not saying to parish clergy who don’t have any more to give . . . ‘Never mind, you have got to give more, you have to got to somehow plant three churches,’” he said.“Myriad is only one part of the story. Another part of the story is: let’s try and lighten the load — make it easier to run ancient buildings, find ways of resourcing.”Archbishop Welby said that he knew how demoralised clergy felt: “I led a small church. . . I used to go to New Wine. I would come away so depressed at what we weren’t doing. And we would always have a bit of a bicker on the way home. . .“And my wife would say: ‘No, of course we’re not: we’re a small church in a small town in the Midlands. We are not HTB . . . Don’t fret about it. That’s their job. Let’s do our job.’”
THE Government’s autumn and winter plan for the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic has been welcomed by Church House, noting that communal worship and life events will not become subject to vaccination certification, even under “Plan B”.The statement recognises “the very positive effects of the vaccination campaign and also the ongoing risks posed by Covid-19”.On Tuesday, the Government announced that all those who had been vaccinated during Phase 1 of the vaccine programme — the over-50s and adults aged 16 to 65 years in an at-risk group — would be offered booster jabs from this month. Those who tested positive and their unvaccinated contacts would still be legally required to self-isolate. Individuals and businesses would eventually be expected to bear the cost of lateral-flow tests (currently available free of charge).A range of “Plan B” measures had also been agreed, in the case of indications that the NHS was at risk of being overwhelmed, including “mandatory vaccine only Covid status certification in certain, riskier settings”. <em>The Times</em> reports that this refers to all indoor venues with 500 or more people, outdoor settings with more than 4000 people, and all settings with more than 10,000 people. Religious services, including weddings and funerals, would be exempt.Compared with this time last year, the Prime Minister said on Tuesday, “our position today is actually more challenging. We have higher levels of daily cases — thousands more. But in many other crucial respects, the British people — all of us, collectively and individually — are incomparably better placed to fight the disease.“We have more than 80 per cent of all over-16s now double-jabbed, double-vaccinated. And we have Covid antibodies in around 90 per cent of the adult population. . .“And the result of this vaccination campaign is that we have one of the most free societies and one of the most open economies in Europe. And that’s why we are now sticking with our strategy.”The Church of England’s official position is that “it would be difficult for it to justify limiting access to church services or organisations on the basis of vaccine passports. Such an approach would run contrary to the principle of the Church being a home and a refuge for all.“Similarly, only in exceptional circumstances is the Church likely to utilise vaccine passports should they become available in order to facilitate additional services to its members or to the wider community, preferring to continue to emphasise existing mitigations.“While the Church is, in principle, opposed to making use of vaccine passports, it should adopt a flexible approach to their limited wider use with the important caveats that such use ought to be demonstrably beneficial to society as a whole, protective of the vulnerable in particular, non-discriminatory in nature and proportionate in use.”
A letter from the Archbishop of Canterbury to our parishes.Click on the link below to read Justin Welby's message.Archbishop Justin expresses joy at the opportunity to serve alongside parishes during his forthcoming visit
