It is a beautiful church,
something not lost on TV production teams, with St Marys featuring in the
recent ITV serialisation of Vanity Fair and before that Taboo, starring Tom
Hardy.
However, St Marys hit the
headlines more recently for the change in the way in which the Bishop of
Chelmsford, Rt Rev Stephen Cottrell has decided worship should proceed in the
future.
Numbers attending services on
a weekly basis have dwindled, stretching the Church of England’s clerical resources
to serve both St Marys and Christchurch. Bishop Cottrell decided that three of
four services a month at St Marys will become lay led, so relieving that
pressure.
The move seems a good one as
it keeps the church open and functioning as well as challenging the
congregation to step up to serve.
The pressure on personnel
stretches across the churches. The Catholic diocese of Brentwood has brought
together the three parishes of Our Lady of Lourdes in Wanstead, St Anne Line in
South Woodford and St Thomas’s in Woodford. The three churches will now be
served by two priests.
The dramatic drop in the
number of priests can be illustrated with a look at Our Lady of Lourdes, which
back in the 1970s had four priests – it now has one.
No doubt the laity will be
called to step up in this situation as well. Failure to do so will put
intolerable pressure on two already overworked priests.
Change, though, is not a bad thing. The churches are evolving,
maybe becoming more outward looking, integral parts of the community.
I am always impressed with the
community involvement at Christchurch. It is a church very much of the
community, open and welcoming, with its resources regularly used by a variety
of community groups.
Christchurch is
environmentally aware, which can be seen by a variety of wild flower and insect
based initiatives around the building.
It is vital if Church’s are to
be living organic parts of the community that they look out and actively engage
with the environment.
In the Catholic case, the
Church has the excellent teachings of Pope Francis, most notably with his
environmental encyclical Laudato Si. The blueprint is there to be followed.
Churches will survive and prosper
if they are outward looking, inclusive structures. Fortunately, this is the
case with many of the churches in our area.
However, if churches fail to
rise to this challenge, then they will decline and struggle. In the end, rather
than living organic structures they could become moribund brick museums to a
past world.
Thankfully our churches in
Wanstead seem to be following the first route but it is always wise though to
be aware of the danger of slipping down the latter path. The more people who
become actively involved in all aspects of parish life the better the future is
likely to be.
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