[Magdalen] Crazy Sunday schedule

[Grace Cangialosi]

I will NEVER complain about a Sunday schedule again!!!

On Tue, Dec 22, 2015 at 12:44 PM, Michael Bishop <rev at michaelbishop.name>
wrote:

> I have for 19 years been incumbent ofa group of 8 parishes. I have an
> associate priest on two Sundays per month and churchwardens lead morning
> prayer thre times perm month.
> The normal pattern of services is:
> First Sunday of the month
> 8am HC (said) - Church Broughton *
> 9.30am Mattins  - Boylestone (churchwarden)
> 11.00am HC - Sutton (retired priest or me)
> 11.15am HC (me or Retired priest) - Longford
> 11.00am Mattins - Trusley (Churchwarden)
> 3.00p.m. Evensong - Dalbury *
> 7.00p.m. Evensong - Long Lane *
>
> Second Sunday of the month
> 8.30am HC (said) - Long Lane *
> 9.30a. HC - Church Broughton *
> 11.00am HC - Radbourne *
> 11.00a.m. Mattins - Sutton (churchwarden)
> 11.00am HC - Trusley *
> 5.00pm HC - Boylestone *
> 6.30p.m. Evensong - Longford*
>
> Third Sunday of the month
> 8.00a.m. HC (said) Sutton *
> 9.30a.m. HC Church Broughton (associate priest)
> 9.30am Mattins  - Boylestone (churchwarden)
> 10.00am Informal Family Service - Longford *
> 11.00a.m. HC Dalbury *
> 12noon HC Trusley (said) *
> 2.30p.m. (winter) or 7.00p.m. (summer) Evensong - Long Lane
>
> Fourth Sunday of the month
> 8.00a.m. HC (said) Church Broughton *
> 9.30a.m. HC (said) - Longford (associate priest)
> 9.30a.m. HC - Boylestone *
> 11.00a.m. HC - Long Lane (associate priest)
> 11.00a.m. Informal Family Service - Sutton *
> 3.00p.m. (winter) 6.30p.m. (summer) - Evensong - Radbourne *
> 6.45p.m. Evensong - Trusley * in winter - churchwarden in summer
>
> Fifth Sunday of the month
> 10.30am United service for all 8 parishes and 2 local Methodist churches -
> HC * if in an Anglican church or  Methodist morning service if in Methodist
> church - the host officiates and the visiting minister preaches
> If the service has been in the Methodist church, then there is said HC* in
> one of the parish churches at 6.30p.m.
>
> Services marked with * are normally taken by me
>
> This programme of services works for me - and after most services I have
> time to stop and chate with the congregation. All congregations are aware
> that there could be a late start if I am delayed, but this rarely happens.
> Some of the congregations are very small - to be expected as our population
> is small.
> Christmas can get hectic! I have led 6 parish carol services so far and
> have a 7th this evening. My associate priest has led one. I have also been
> involved in 8 nativity play performances (5 for our 3 church schools)
> together with 2 school carol services. Then I will officate at a 5p.m.
> informal Crib Service and 10pm HC & 11.30pm HC on Christmas Eve and 9.45am
> HC & 11a.m. HC on Christmas Day. Others will officiate at other 10p.m. &
> 11.30p.m. HC on Christmas Eve and 10.15am HC on Christmas Day.
>
> I know that there will be a need to make adjustments to this schedule
> before I retire in about 18 months time but I have been very happy with it.
> No doubt if I had a wife and/or children I would see things differently. I
> do feel it to a great privilege to minister to all these small communities.
> The 8 churches spread over an area about 10 miles diameter. 6 of the
> churches are at least partly medieval, one  was totally rebuilt 300 years
> ago and one built from scratch just over 125 years ago. The tiniest
> congregation  (All Saints', Dalbury) can proudly claim the distinction of
> having in its church the oldest panel of stained glass anywhere in Britain
> (dating from the early 12th or late 11th century).
>
> ....
> ....
> God bless
>
> Michael Bishop
> rev at michaelbishop.name
>
> Rector of St John the Baptist, Boylestone; St Michael & All Anghels,
> Church Broughton; All Saints, Dalbury; St Chad, Longford; Christ Church,
> Long Lane;
> St Michael, Sutton-on-the-Hill; All Saints', Trusley
>
> Diocese of Derby, England
>
>
> On 22/12/2015 16:57, Grace Cangialosi wrote:
>
>> Yes, the alternating services between buildings had occurred to me, but
>> right now there's too much animosity between the congregations. When they
>> do combine services, there are folks who won't come. That's something the
>> interim will need to work on.
>> And you're right--the Diocese can't impose a solution. As long as the
>> churches aren't receiving diocesan aid, they can keep the doors open.
>>
>> On Dec 22, 2015, at 11:36 AM, "Charles Wohlers" <
>>> charles.wohlers at verizon.net> wrote:
>>>
>>> Reminds me of the situation in Brandon, VT, where my wife Lee was
>>> interim for ~2 years. It was a better situation than you describe, however,
>>> and may show you a direction to go in.
>>>
>>> There are also two churches, also about 5 miles apart. One is a largish
>>> standard stone gothic building located in downtown Brandon (pop. ~4500);
>>> the other is a very cute carpenter gothic wooden church in "suburban"
>>> Forest Dale - a much smaller community. Forest Dale originally existed
>>> thanks to iron mining & smelting and the church was built by the owner for
>>> his workers (a common arrangement, as you probably know). The parishes both
>>> date from the 1830's or 1840's or so, and have always had a common rector.
>>> When Lee arrived (2006), they still had separate vestries but had long
>>> since worshipped together, alternating between the two buildings. Her
>>> predecessor, BTW, also had a long tenure - 20 years. While Lee was there
>>> the parishes finally merged officially, and now the worship schedule is
>>> Forest Dale in the winter, Brandon in the summer. (The Forest Dale church
>>> is smaller and so cheaper to heat). There has long been talk of closing one
>>> of the buildings, but - which one? One is centrally located but expensive
>>> to maintain, while the other is out-of-the-way but cheaper to maintain.
>>>
>>> So - combining the two parishes with services alternating between them
>>> is one possibility, but, as you know, is easy in theory but can be very
>>> difficult to accomplish. My personal experience tells me that any desire to
>>> merge needs to originate with the parishes, and not with the Diocese.
>>>
>>> Lee was also interim at two parishes in Fall River, with a schedule
>>> similar to what you describe (but only two services, not three). And these
>>> were only a mile or so apart, in a city. The parish with the early service
>>> always felt a bit cheated, as the priest had to run off to the other
>>> service. They also had a common priest for some years. They eventually
>>> merged and sold one of the buildings.
>>>
>>> Just my experience -
>>>
>>> Chad Wohlers
>>> East Bridgewater, MA USA
>>> chadwohl at satucket.com
>>>
>>>
>>> -----Original Message----- From: Grace Cangialosi
>>> Sent: Tuesday, December 22, 2015 12:51 AM
>>> To: Magdalen
>>> Subject: [Magdalen] Crazy Sunday schedule
>>>
>>> Yesterday I supplied over the mountain in two small churches whose
>>> rector left about three months ago. He was in seminary with me, and he had
>>> served those two churches for 24 years, though he had been looking to leave
>>> for several years.
>>> The churches were two of the thirty missions established here in the
>>> Blue Ridge by Archdeacon Neve at the beginning of the 20th century. I
>>> served two of them from 1991-2000. There are only about six still open, and
>>> the two where I was yesterday are the only ones with parish status.
>>>
>>> I supplied early last summer for a combined service there, but I'd never
>>> done the whole Sunday schedule until yesterday. I cannot imagine putting up
>>> with it for 24 years!  The two churches are about five miles apart, and
>>> there are three services. The 8:00 service is at Grace; there's no music,
>>> because they don't have an organist. It's their main service, and twice a
>>> month they have breakfast afterwards.
>>> The 9:30 service is up the road at St. Stephen and the Good Shepherd.
>>> They do have an organist, so there's music. Nothing after the service, and
>>> anyway, I had to leave right after the service to go back to Grace for the
>>> 11:00 service. There's no opportunity for fellowship with the 9:30
>>> congregation because of the tight schedule. Still no music at 11, though
>>> they did ask if we could sing one of the hymns listed in the bulletin for
>>> 9:30. So we did two a cappella. There was one little boy who came with his
>>> grandparents; he was the only child I saw all morning. There was nothing
>>> after that service, either. Each church has its own budget and vestry, and
>>> they barely speak to one another. One church did its best to make the
>>> former rector's life miserable. He was never paid diocesan  scale.
>>>
>>> Obviously he didn't do anything to change all that, and they basically
>>> called the shots for his entire tenure.  All three services were Rite II,
>>> but I was astonished to learn that they've never had Lay Eucharistic
>>> Ministers in the service. In fact, they looked at me as if I had two heads
>>> when I asked about it! At one service a retired priest asked if I'd like
>>> him to help administer the chalice, and I was glad to take him up on it.
>>> They had also never had a lay person do the Prayers of the People! A woman
>>> came to me before the last service and asked if she could read aloud the
>>> names from the prayer list, since they hadn't done that in a long time.
>>>
>>> The total attendance for the three services was about 43. They've been
>>> told they will need to have an interim, and they can't start the search
>>> process for awhile, because there will need to be some changes. I just
>>> can't imagine someone wanting to go there under the present circumstances.
>>> There is a lovely rectory across from Grace Church, but there's no garage,
>>> so it's always obvious whether the rector is at home or away.
>>>
>>> Folks were very nice to me and said they hoped I'd come back, but I'm
>>> not sure about that. They've apparently bein given the
>>> name of a possible interim, but I think she lives a couple of hours
>>> away. It's a little over an hour for me, but I know the road over the
>>> mountain like the back of my hand. Having three services in and of itself
>>> isn't too bad--lots of bigger churches do that. It's the running back and
>>> forth that's exhausting. They did give me the option--said they leave the
>>> choice of having the third service up to the supply priest. If s/he doesn't
>>> want to do the third service, it's just cancelled. The senior warden said
>>> they usually only have 8-10 people at that service. There were 12 yesterday.
>>>
>>> I know there are lots of little churches like this, including the two I
>>> served before, which are struggling with mostly lay leadership and  monthly
>>> visits from  a priest, but I don't see much future for them unless there is
>>> a totally new model. Working ecumenically with other churches in the area
>>> would be a possibility, but for many folks that's almost unthinkable.
>>>
>>> I guess the question is whether they should be closed or continue to
>>> limp along until folks die off. There is no growth potential in that rural
>>> area.
>>>
>>
>
>


-- 
Grace Cangialosi
Ruckersville, VA

*We must cry out against injustice or by our silence consent to it.
Dorothy Day*