church commissioners,environment,environmental,equality,inclusive,mission,pcc,poverty,retirement,save the parish

Professor Roy Faulkner

Background
I am an Emeritus Professor of Physical Metallurgy at the University of Loughborough.
I have worshipped at Emmanuel Church, St Mary’s Nanpantan, and St. Paul’s, Woodhouse Eaves in
Loughborough for over 50 years. In recent times I have served on the PCC, and been a Warden at St.
Mary in Charnwood and St Paul’s Woodhouse Eaves. I serve on Akeley East Deanery Synod and
Leicester Diocesan Synod. I have served for the last five years in the House of Laity of General Synod.
Before my retirement I ran a large research group a Loughborough University, concerned with High
Temperature Materials and Nuclear Reactor Materials. The research was all conducted in large
international teams, and the work took me to many different countries, including Europe, the USA,
China, Russia, Malaysia, Japan, Australia, and Argentina. I have made a large number of Christian
friends on these travels, and I spent time worshipping with many of them in their own countries. In
earlier years, I was President of the East Midlands Metallurgical Society and a past Younger Members
Chairman of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining. Currently, I chair the Science and
Technology Group of the Charnwood University of the Third Age. My university education was at
University of Leeds and the University of Cambridge, Churchill College.
Save The Parish
In the last few years, I have become increasingly concerned about the direction in which the Church of
England is proceeding. Therefore, during the last five years, I have been involved with the Save the
Parish (STP) movement, which is run by Marcus Walker of the church of St. Bartholomew the Great in
London. We are all worried that there has become too much accumulated power centred in the
Diocese administration, at the expense of the power given to local priests in the Parishes. In Leicester
Diocese, we now have the Minster scheme, which will result in a 25% reduction in priest representation
in Leicester Diocese, accompanied by a vanishingly small reduction in the size of the Diocese
administrative machinery.
It is almost as if the leadership of the Church is interested in worshipping bureaucracy rather more than
God. The reason that I am standing for re-election to General Synod is that I hope to make some
progress in reversing this undesirable trend. Already a third of General Synod consists of Save the
Parish-aligned people and the Save the Parish movement is seeking to strengthen its representation in
the next session of General Synod.
I cannot overstress that we are fighting for the survival of the Parishes right now. The central aim of
STP is to increase the number of vicars in the country. We believe that this is the only way to reverse
church attendance decline. At the same time, the Diocese bureaucracies are growing larger by the day
and we have far more senior clergy than we need. A vote for me as a member of the STP movement
will help to reverse this disturbing trend.

Ongoing Representation on Several General Synod Working Groups
During my time in the last session of General Synod, I became acquainted personally with many of the
Church Commissioners. I detect a strong support from these senior figures in starting new initiatives
leading to more vicars being financed directly from the Church Commissioner Strategic Mission and
Ministry funding. In particular, I have been asked to sit on the Steering Group on National Funding for
Diocesan Ministry. I hope in this way to represent you in some very important debates and discussions
in the next five years on Synod, so that we can reverse this trend of reducing vicar numbers.
I was also a member of the Mission and Pastoral Measure Working Group during the last session.
Environment
As a scientist and engineer I take a responsible approach to controlling the environment to combat
global warming. There is currently a high level of emotion in this debate, with little attention being paid
to the truth. I try encourage the church to listen to the professional engineers charged with controlling
global warming, so that a solution to the problem can be developed which does not involving putting
an increasingly large proportion of the population into poverty. I am a member of the Environmental
Working Group on General Synod.
Diversity, Inclusivity, and equality
I will continue to encourage the Church to adopt a more consistent approach to inclusivity, diversity
and equality, and to endeavour to make the Church, and its leaders, open to all, in a truly welcoming
sense.
My contact information
At any time, I will be very glad to hear your views, and to come to speak at your Deanery Synod or PCC
about what is happening on General Synod.
[email protected]; Tel: 07575527127
Address: 51 Tynedale Road, Loughborough, LE11 3TA
My Proposers
I have been proposed by Tony Lane and Andrea Farnsworth, both of St. Paul’s Church, Woodhouse
Eaves, in Akeley East Deanery.
Conclusion
Please consider making me your first preference (or, at least top three) on the ballot paper, so that I
have a good chance of continuing to ensure that more resources are put into front-line parish ministry,
and less into Diocesan and Church House administration. I will also endeavour to encourage the Church
to provide a more inclusive, diverse, equal, and environmentally sensitive approach to welcoming
people into the Church of England. I look forward to hearing from you, at any time.