- It cannot offer hard pews, draughty vestries or a parking
headache on Sunday mornings, but the Church of England's first internet
parish promises everything else for a traditional congregation.
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- An "i-church" being set up by the Diocese of
Oxford aims to provide prayers, daily readings, spiritual guidance, information
and teachings to Christians who cannot attend conventional Sunday services.
The diocese is today advertising for a web pastor, or virtual vicar, to
take charge of the online congregation.
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- "We are aware of statistics which show that 50-52
per cent of the population is prepared to put 'Church of England' by their
name, but only eight per cent is in church on a Sunday morning," said
the Rev Richard Thomas, the diocese's communications director, who is behind
the project.
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- "There are a lot of people who have some link with
the Church of England but, for whatever reason, can't or don't want to
be in church."
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- Among those the i-church is hoping to attract are people
who frequently travel for business, people who are housebound, and those
who do not want to be part of a traditional church.
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- It is hoped that a core of committed members will help
to run the website and provide material for casual visitors.
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- "The Church of England is rightly proud of its commitment
to the whole community," said Mr Thomas. "As the internet is
a growing part of that community, we would be failing in our mission if
we didn't provide a spiritual community on the internet."
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- © Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2004.
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- http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/03/
05/nvicar05.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/03/05/ixhome.html
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