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Costings Autumn 2007 The Newsletter of |
Dear Friends in Christ,
Once again I have to apologise for the fact that you have received no Costings for a long time. On this occasion it really was due to ‘circumstances beyond my control’ which included my wife having to undergo major surgery on two occasions. This, I am glad to say was wholly successful.
But enough of excuses! The actual work of Cost of Conscience has continued unabated over this period and the result has been that we now have an Agenda which is quite daunting.
So let me begin with the two most recent events:
The Meetings at Wylde Green [16/07/07] and Michaelswood [19-20/08/07]
At our meeting at Broomhill with the PEVs in December 2006 it was decided that since the latter now meet and correspond regularly, the need for such meetings was over.
Accordingly the Committee met at Fr Crane’s Vicarage in Wylde Green on Monday 16th July, 2007
Amongst other items on the Agenda it was agreed that we should consider:
All of us agreed that there is a key-role which Cost of Conscience should play, both individually and collectively. To determine what form this should take we agreed to meet residentially in September (see below).
An approach has been made to a member of Reform about the possibility of a joint conference in Oxford. The Chelmsford Project is being re-initaited. We hope to have a meeting soon with members of the Anglican Association to look at matters of interest to both of us.
It was also agreed that we should compile a collective database of Private and Corporate Patrons of livings and their addresses, in association with the Patrons Advisory Group. No such database exists, though the information for it is in the public domain and freely available under the Freedom of Information statutes.
A start has already been made and it is hoped that such a project could be completed by the end of 2008. St Alban’s is complete, Chelmsford and Canterbury will follow soon..
It was agreed to donate £2,000 to the Walsingham Appeal.
Michaelswood meeting 19/20 September, held Day’s Inn
Outcomes: It was agreed to set up a joint display in the refreshment area at the forthcoming FiF Assembly about the work of Cost of Conscience, WaterAid and the Glastonbury Pilgrimage. This has been arranged
We hope to be holding a meeting with members of the Anglican Association in the near future.
We shall be looking into the possibility of producing simple literature aimed at ‘the wider public’ to explain the rudiments of the Catholic Faith. We shall be looking for an Editor who would be paid an honorarium for his or her services.
The Chelmsford Project is now ‘back on the rails’ and will hopefully take place in February 2008 We shall look for someone to take over its administration.
As the end of the initial appeal for the John Richards Memorial fund approaches we should consider what to do with any unallocated monies.
There is an urgent need for a ministry to clergy who are isolated and seldom visited personally. These include a number of those who have retired.
Articles outlining the work of Cost of Conscience should be submitted to New Directions, Forward Plus and Church Observer.
As you will see, we have set ourselves a formidable task for the future. Our hope is that by doing so we shall attract support both personal and financial.
Of the original regular donors to Cost of Conscience, some have died, some have been unable to continue their support owing to straitened circumstances, whilst others have simply discontinued their donations. Since these donations comprise our only source of income – apart from Training on the Read which is a nice little earner though seriously under-used.
We hope that by ‘re-programming’ ourselves through this issue of Costings and at the FiF Assembly we shall be able to fund our continued activities in the future.
Financial support for retired bishops.
Cost of Conscience has for several years been assisting the retired bishops Gaisford and Barnes financially to carry on the work which they continue to do so nobly. This year they were joined by Bishop David Silk, formerly Bishop of Ballarat, and we have included him in our disbursement of £300 each per year.
We were delighted that the Council of Forward in Faith agreed to match this amount.
The Glastonbury Pilgrimage
The great step forward which the Pilgrimage has taken is a five-year association with the charity WaterAid which provides clean water for drinking and sanitation in areas of the world where these are lacking.
For the next five years (at least) the entire afternoon collection at the Pilgrimage will be donated to the work of WaterAid..
In return, WaterAid have placed their publicity expertise (which is considerable) at the disposal of the Pilgrimage with a view to raising and widening the profile of the Pilgrimage, and getting us more notice in the local and national press.
The result of our first year’s endeavour was a staggering collection of £10,700 – over twice the target which we had set ourselves and almost half the amount needed to fund the total Wakiso project which was designated as ‘our own’.
Training on the Read
This simple event has made an enormous difference to the standard of reading in those churches and continues to grow in popularity.
The event is thoroughly enjoyable and professionally directed. We hope to expand our number of actor-teachers during the coming year to cope with the demand which we anticipate.
The event provides a small but significant amount of money to enable Cost of Conscience to continue its work.
During the past year we have held these Training Sessions at churches in Tottenham, Kilburn, Penrheiber, Lewisham, Bickley and Kenton.
In every case the result has been an immediate and astonishing improvement in the standard of lesson-reading, and the discovery of a whole raft of new readers who had lacked the confidence to offer their services in this way.
There is no age limit, and the whole event is thoroughly enjoyable – witness the number of churches who have asked for a ‘second helping’.
Peter Leafe, a professional actor whose genius in imparting confidence is the secret of the whole venture, enjoys these events as much as anyone. The cost of £100 (plus travel if outside London) when shared (as it has often been) between three or four parishes is really good value for money.
So do consider carefully whether your parish could benefit from having such an experience. I will gladly supply references of ‘satisfied customers’ if that would be of assistance in reaching a decision with your PCC.
The Trushare Website and News Service
Our website at
www.Trushare.com now has several thousand pages and continues to receive many ‘hits’ daily. It has the complete archive of New Directions and access is totally free.Alongside this, but as a separate service, is the free email News Forwarding service. Every day I read through dozens of emails to do with church news throughout the world and send those items that I think would be of interest to those who have indicated to me that they would like to receive them.
There is no doubt that this service is appreciated. We even have a well-known Religious Correspondent who asked to be included on our forwarding list!
This services is particularly appreciated by some of our colleagues in Australia, Africa and the U.S.A. It is so difficult in some parts of the world to know what is going on elsewhere that such as service can, I believe, be legitimately compared with those Epistles which were circulated in the early church to keep individual but isolate dioceses in touch with each other.
Incidentally, on those rare occasions when I am away from home for a day or more there is often a message waiting for me on my return asking whether something has gone wrong. I sometimes have to look through two or three hundred emails to extract the dozen or so which I consider to be worth forwarding.
The JR Memorial Fund
This fund, set up in memory of the late Bishop John Richards to make grants to parishes with a view to their becoming ‘centres of excellence’ still has funds available for those who apply for them.
Believe it or Not!
There has been a sudden revival of interest on the survey which we did a little while back and published as Believe it or Not!. This survey showed, beyond peradventure, the amazing self-admitted deviation between what priests and laity profess in church and what they actually believe.
There are plenty of copies still available at 50p each inc. P&P. I have never subscribed to the view that the findings would become ‘out of date’. Almost certainly the situation is now far worse – not least amongst the members of General synod.
A Seminar on Immigrants – legal and illegal
Every priest today finds himself sooner or later involved with immigrants. Questions of marriage, residence and work-permits constantly arise, and a whole industry has evolved in the legal profession to service their needs.
Cost of Conscience plans to arrange a Seminar early in 2008, like the Gay-and-Lesbian, and the Drug Legalisation ones, which proved so popular and helpful.
We very much hope that this will be well supported. The speakers will all be qualified in their own areas, and it wouldn’t surprise me if – as happened at the Drug Seminar – at least one speaker were to discover something they didn’t know from one of their fellow-speakers!
In Sum…
I hope you will by now have realised that the money which you so generously give us is being put to good use.
Yours in Christ
