A friend tells me that S Mary's Church Huttoft in Lincolnshire, the basis of the poem by Sir John Betjeman which I quoted yesterday, is, indeed, in his experience, very locked; and served by a woman minister. Fulsere vere ...
Father, whilst I'm sure it is not your intention, your association between the church having a female incumbent could be construed as sexist - there is probably no connection in that to it being locked.
I'd suggest that the cause is instead likely to be that the parish is in a team with three other villages and the incumbent has more pressing things to do with their time than go between villages locking and unlocking churches, and they haven't a volunteer to do so from the congregations. (Though I admit I comment without knowledge of this particular church, just the trends amongst rural parish churches).
Father, whilst I'm sure it is not your intention, your association between the church having a female incumbent could be construed as sexist - there is probably no connection in that to it being locked.
ReplyDeleteI'd suggest that the cause is instead likely to be that the parish is in a team with three other villages and the incumbent has more pressing things to do with their time than go between villages locking and unlocking churches, and they haven't a volunteer to do so from the congregations. (Though I admit I comment without knowledge of this particular church, just the trends amongst rural parish churches).
It is St Margaret's Huttoft, now part of the Mablethorpe and Sutton Groups, consisting of five parishes served by two men and a woman.
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