New rural office created

A new rural officer post has been created by the Church in England and Wales in order to help bolster ministry in this area. 

The decision was taken by the Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle, Seamus Cunningham, who announced the move at a conference for rural Catholics last week.

Fr Robert Miller, a priest of the Diocese of Clifton who has long been involved in rural ministry, has been appointed to the position. He will work alongside Canon Harry Doyle of the Diocese of Lancaster.

A large amount of ecumenical work takes place in rural areas, including church sharing. The new national officer will work with his opposite number in the Church of England and the representative for the Methodist and United Reform Churches.

Fr Miller said the conference, which took place in Preston, heard that most parishes in the country have vast rural areas. It heard, however, that the town in which a parish church is situated usually keeps a priest too busy to have much to do with outlying villages.

Rural parishioners tend to be commuters and the retired rather than farmers. It was also remarked on that many priests are unlikely to have rural experience as they often will have grown up in a town church and have had urban pastoral placements. Fr Miller said: “The rhythm of village life may be unfamiliar, [there is] uncertain transport for those who do not drive, [and] internet linkage [is] poor.”

The conference also listened to a talk about extracting energy through fracking by Francis Egan, the chief executive of Cuadrilla, a company that has sought to introduce the process in locations in the UK. Fracking involves drilling several miles into the earth to extract gas.