Dear All

Here is a copy of the procedure for the closure of a church building as detailed at the parish council meeting on Thursday night:

You should also remember as you read this that Stephen Pullen does not believe that St Clements is an operational church.
 

PROCEDURE FOR THE CLOSURE OF A CHURCH BUILDING

Introduction:

1        The decision to close a place of worship arouses deep feelings among people. Such a closure is often seen as:

          a betrayal by the Church of the local communty
         a personal slight to "our family"
         a significant break with "The Tradition" that any local community, to be a "proper" town or village, has a church building,
         a sense of failure by the local community to the Parish.

2    Many individuals have an "investment" in the building about which they only become vocal once the decision is made to close the building. Care must be taken that a faith community is not broken up unnecessarily.

              The decision to close the building is made as a result of openness by all parties and that there is no sense of stubbornness by any of the decision making bodies.
At all times it is important that there be proper recognition that we are dealing with a sacred space which has been hallowed by prayer and worship over many years.

General Principles:

Any initiation of discussion about the closure of a church building needs to recognise the above matters. The local story (history) needs to be known and attended to by the Priest, Churchwardens and Parish Council.

2     The Parish Priest and Churchwardens should, in the first instance, prepare a "Working Paper" for the Parish Council and the Archdeacon of the area. Attention should be given to the relevant data to do with the parish and especially the local area in which the building to be closed is placed. Census data, Church Life Survey and a community profile must be attended to and taken into account.

3     Such a "Working Paper" should be made available to the Bishop, the Archdeacon, Area Dean, Regional Council, the Parish Council and the various views and opinions of these people be used to prepare a revised paper.

4    The Bishop and the Archdeacon should then meet with the Parish Priest and the Council at a special meeting to discuss the closure and to assist the Parish Council to come to a decision. (This may take more than one meeting)

 5   When a decision can be reached, a meeting of the Parish and community should be held. A discussion paper should be circulated and made available to all prior to the public meeting.

6     Prior to such a meeting, it should be clear in the discussion paper:

              How those attached to the building to be closed, are to be cared for in respect to nurture" worship and witness. Can they be encouraged to transfer allegiance to the Parish Church or the church in another Parish?

              If the decision is made to keep the building open, there responsibilities in doing so should be spelt out.

How will the proceeds of the sale be used?
What will happen to the memorials within the building and to the altar and its ornaments? The stained glass windows, the font, vessels, etc.? •

7     An announcement should be made at the meeting that the Archdeacon will conduct an independent and confidential written ballot on the closure of the church at an agreed time and place. Everyone on the parish roll, or everyone on the roll who are members of the church to be closed, whether present or not, will be invited to vote. Provision will be made for postal votes.

8     At the general meeting after the matters in 6 and 7 have been set out, there should be time for questions and discussion. If the decision is taken to close the building, a group from the local church and the parish should be formed to plan and oversee with the bishop the process of closure with due care for the people's need to grieve, to honour the life of the Church and a11 that God has done and meant to people involved and to be
open to the future. If the result is not to close the building, the congregation is to be helped to prepare for a renewal of future ministry.

9     Once the vote in 7 has been completed, the relevant documents should be presented by the Archdeacon to the Bishop who, in consultation with the Diocesan Council, will make the final decision.

10     lf the result is to proceed to closure, the Bishop meets with the Churchwardens to:

              (a) Arrange the date of closure and to plan the final service.

              (b)   Appoint a committee of three parishioners from the church to close and three from the parish church to oversee the closure and welcome to the parish church.
This committee will be chaired by the Bishop or Archdeacon and must attend to:

                    The Pastoral Care of all those involved.
                    The sale of the property
                    Removal of fixtures and fittings.
                    What might be placed in the parish church or a neighbouring  church?
                    Plaques, memorials, etc.
                    Relocation of Memorial Garden and/or Columbarium.

 

These are my comments:

Section one - point 4: I don't believe that there IS any sense by the community of Camberwell and the parishioners of St Clements that they have failed the Parish. Suggest it's more likely the other way around. But is sounds good.
 

Section Two - point 1 From where I sit, I can see no evidence that care has been taken of our faith community over the past three years. AND it was very limited before that.

Section Two - Point 2 The bit that sticks here is the bit about openness by ALL parties - wonder if they read this before they tabled it at a meeting.

Section Two - Point 3 They have left this "sacred space which has been hallowed by pray for the past 150 years" to crumble and deteriorate. These words sound great but their inaction is most cruel and belies those things that they continue to preach.

General Principles:

Point 1 - has deconsecrating been discussed with the St Clement's church wardens. (I'd like to ask who they are at this point, every time I ask the question I get a different answer????)

Point 2 - Has St Clements working paper been prepared?

Point 3 - I'm sure that the Bishop, Archdeacon, and Parish Council have held discussions, but if there is no working paper from the church wardens of St Clement's how can there be a revised paper???

Point 4 - There was no Bishop in sight at the meeting on Thursday night, and as for one meeting, in the case of St Clements it was all over and concluded (the vote to deconsecrate) in about half an hour.

Point 5 - No talk of a meeting of the Parish and community, much less a discussion paper.

Point 6 - I asked this question of Charlie, with Julienne listening to every word, and neither can tell me how and when the parishioners of St Clements are going to be told, much less nurture or care for them. Julienne made this grand statement that she would go around and sees Dad on Friday after I told him on Thursday night after the meeting. We asked him last night if anyone had visited him on Friday from the Church, and the answer was a resounding no. (Mind you I did tell her not to bother as she was about three years too late - Pullen was supposed to do that after we visited him in Dec 2009 and they are still waiting.

Point 7 - It was painfully obvious that all but Leonie knew what was coming re deconsecrating - not one of them had any questions, suggestions or views on the
closure. All voted "yes". There was no evidence of a written ballot on the closure, and certainly no vote from "everyone on the roll who are members of their church to be closed, whether present or not, will be invited to vote. Suggest it would have been pretty hard to do a postal vote at 5.00pm on Thursday night in time for the vote being passed at 6.00pm.

Point 9 - I'd be willing to bet at this point that the Bishop, Archdeacon and Diocesan Council, started this process after Charlie and Royston's visit last Saturday.

Point 10 - Charlie has already hinted that he thought a good day for the closing would be on the Patronal festival day. As for Pastoral Care of all - they would know pastoral care if it bit them on the •••••••.

I'm sure we'll be in contact again soon

Keep up the fight

Janene