[Magdalen] Crazy Sunday schedule

[Michael Bishop]

Oops! I claimed to be taking two services at the same time on the second 
Sunday of the month - I can't do that!
I celebrate the 11am at Radbourne and a retired priest officates at 
Trusley 11am!

....
....
God bless

Michael Bishop
rev at michaelbishop.name

Rector of Boylestone, Church Broughton, Dalbury, Longford, Long Lane, Sutton-on-the-Hill & Trusley

Diocese of Derby, England

On 22/12/2015 17:56, Grace Cangialosi wrote:
> 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.
>>>>
>>
>