WHEN most of us were still mortified by the abuse scandal last week, the think tank Civitas produced a critique of recent Church of England policies, which, it says, have damaged the national Church in a quite different way (News, 6 December).
Restoring the Value of Parishes starts from the premiss that the quality of civil society matters deeply to us all. The author, Esmé Partridge, argues that it is the parish unit that provides the historic foundations of welfare, community, and spiritual belonging, and is still a vital source of local identity and neighbourliness which goes far beyond providing a venue for worshipping communities.
A parish offers what Samuel Taylor Coleridge described as “a germ of civilisation . . . around which the capabilities of the place may crystallise and brighten”. I love that phrase “crystallise and brighten”. Today, this involves not only the gift of heritage, art, and architecture at a local level, but also, in many instances, foodbanks, warm spaces, and companionship.
The paper goes on to argue that the parish is ripe for renewal. There is a hunger for holiness, for rootedness, for connection with history, and for a non-judgmental welcome. When all of those are put together, the value of parishes to society as a whole is simply incalculable. They demonstrate what Bishop Andrew Rumsey describes as “the Anglican covenant with place”.
The most shocking aspect of the report is the analysis of how funding and effective control have both moved over the years from parish to diocese. Dioceses have grown larger and have demanded more from parishes with the constantly increasing tax known as the parish share.
Parishes, meanwhile, have lost the income that they once had from glebe land, while the clergy have lost their freehold. Central funds, such as Queen Anne’s Bounty, which were once set aside specifically for poorer parishes, are being sucked back to the centre. While mission-based initiatives have often been funded lavishly, the poorest parishes have been merged, and this has harmed whole communities just at the time when other common ground, such as pubs and post offices, has also been closed.
Much of this has been said before. But what is fresh about this report is the author’s proper theological concern for our whole social fabric, not just for the Church. In the end, an Established Church can justify itself only by being for everyone, and that includes the indifferent, adherents of other faiths, cultured atheists, and, especially, the poor and the marginalised. A “covenant with place” must be personal and relational: well-trained clergy living on site, visiting, encouraging, and building connections. The Church of England has been serving itself for too long in a mode that could well be described as a betrayal of true Anglicanism. The resignation of Archbishop Welby is an opportunity to change direction. We would all do well to remember that Jesus was born in a stable, not in a diocesan office.