Priest creates viral fictional parish of kindness

A priest says he is "stunned" by the reaction to a satirical fictional village, which has gained the attention of thousands of people all over the world.

Reverend Canon Tom Kennar, rector of St Faith's Church in Havant is writing satirical posts on Facebook about the goings on in the fictional parish of St Faithful's in the village of Havnot.

Described as a gentle parody of church life he told BBC Radio Solent he has gained followers and messages from "all around the world", including Australia and New Zealand.

He says the characters are inspired by people he has met over the years, with the concept based around being "kind and accepting".

The idea of St Faithful's in Havnot stemmed from the church leader's decision to watch less television and to do something creative over Christmas, he told BBC Solent.

Reverend Canon Kennar started to write down characters inspired by people he has worked with over the last 60 years of being part of churches.

"I've been around in churches for more years than I care to contest... and you meet a lot of people along the way in this world and some of them stick with you... and you think, yeah, that person would have something interesting to say on this topic or that.

"They won't recognise themselves by name certainly, but if they recognise certain characteristics then I hope they feel seen."

His fictional parish, portrayed through a Facebook page called 'St Faithful's, Havnot', soon gained traction and now has 11,000 followers.

Reverend Canon Kennar said Havnot is a "happy little place".

"It's a bit unlike most of our lives in that it's a nice settled little village where everybody knows everybody else… where everybody is accepted however different they might be from what we consider normal."

With Easter approaching and busy schedule, the reverend works on the project in the little spare time he has and manages to write a story or two a day.

"Havnot is not about being cruel to anybody at all, it's quite the opposite, its about being kind and being accepting and realising that not all of us think the same," he said.

"And sometimes life is just funny and has to be dealt with with humour rather than allowing ourselves to get too worked up about things."