Bishop Jackson on parish funding
From the Revd David Hill SCP
Madam, — Thank God for the Bishop of Hereford, the Rt Revd Richard Jackson (Online news, 12 June). He has spoken out on a subject that I suspect many of us in parish ministry have felt strongly about for some time.
Recently, we have been having discussions on this very subject at our PCC meetings. Our parish is one of the ten per cent most deprived in the country, but, thanks to the generosity of some of the better-off members of our community, we manage to pay about 75 per cent of the parish share. Considering the rising costs of everything else that we have to do, this is not sustainable.
The genuine worry here is that, when I leave, we will, like so many other places, simply be joined up with others. I believe everyone knows that this is really what leads to decline, as it is impossible to exercise a pastoral, sacramental, and evangelistic ministry of presence if the Church’s mission leaders on the ground, i.e. the clergy, are spread thinly. It is the clergy, too, in many instances, who enable and encourage the ministry of all members of God’s Church. In my experience, that is almost impossible in multi-parish ministry.
We are blessed here to be a single-parish benefice, and that is allowing us to grow back after the vicissitudes of recent years. If the Church Commissioners were to act as the Bishop of Hereford suggests, however, I can only imagine what God would help us to achieve through the gift of not having to worry so much about how we are going to pay for everything.
The question of finance is a moral one. Our people here rightly ask: “Why are we being asked to bust a gut to support the centre which has billions?”
The direction of flow of funding needs to be reversed, and the Church needs to urgently consider what its vast funds are actually for. We are rightly critical of governments and corporations that leave people short of food and that pay them too little on which to live. What can we say of a rich Church that seems to be content to let so many starve spiritually?
The Commissioners are not going to transform the Church and thence the world if they always seek to protect the administrative centre. Those who are here, now, and our successors will transform the Church and thence the world. These transformative missionaries already exist, whether in clerical collars or not. They are in our pews, our homes, and our places of work, and on our streets. We need to be enabled.
DAVID HILL
St John’s Rectory
53 Brittany Road
St Leonards-on-Sea
East Sussex TN38 0RD
From the Revd R. C. Paget
Madam, — The Bishop of Hereford makes a timely and potentially life-saving foray into the whole parish-or-pipe-dreams argument. The projects, initiatives, mega-parishes, etc., may have sustained some parishes and even effected growth — albeit the official evidence would seem to deny the latter — but, without doubt, they have been to the detriment and often demise of too many others, especially rural ones.
To both appropriately experienced laity and clergy qualified and with experience in other organisations — in particular, those facing changed markets, falling revenue, stricter legal constraints, etc. — much of what has been done has made, and still makes, no strategic, financial, or, equally if not more importantly, pastoral sense whatsoever. What is perhaps most astonishing of all regarding the House of Bishops’ and the Church Commissioners’ ready acceptance of these follies is not so much their lack of wisdom as what the results say about their lack of understanding of human nature and social cohesion.
R. C. PAGET
16 Parkside
Oxfordshire OX13 6NN
Transparency in governance and Freemasonry
Madam, — I write in light of recent commentary by Dr Colin Podmore (Letter, 6 June) on integrity in governance and the critical importance of robust conflict-of-interest policies. I wish to raise a matter that continues to escape formal scrutiny: the presence and influence of Freemasonry within church governance and other structures, particularly at trustee level.
I welcomed Bishop Paul Thomas’s timely call for Anglo-Catholic charities to adopt the Nolan Principles of public life. But integrity, transparency, and accountability must be central to all parts of the Church — not least to its governance.
I suggest we take this further by re-examining a longstanding and often overlooked concern: the relationship between the Church of England and Freemasonry. Freemasonry has historically had a significant presence in the police, civil service, and legal professions — sectors that are also represented across our safeguarding structures and culture.
As someone who has campaigned for greater spiritual clarity in this area, I find it troubling that no safeguarding framework or transparent policy governs the presence of Masonic activity within Church spaces — even as Masonic ceremonies continue to be hosted in churches and cathedrals.
My own experience as a young chorister — required to sing at Masonic dinners late into the evening for inebriated men — left me with lasting questions about coercion, silence, and power.
Freemasonry’s oaths, secrecy, and layered initiations stand in stark contrast to the openness and spiritual liberty of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I echo Bishop Thomas’s emphasis on trust and integrity, but can we truly uphold those values if we fail to confront the quiet compromises we have allowed — especially where secret influence, wealth, or historical legacy are concerned?
This is not a call for condemnation. Many Freemasons are decent, generous individuals. But that is precisely why transparency matters.
NAME AND ADDRESS SUPPLIED
Posts needed to build links with public sector
From Dr Peter Lumsden
Madam, — It is nice to agree with Canon Angela Tilby (Comment, 6 June) on the Church taking action in the public square.
As she points out, there still exist a range of vices and injustices across society, and also a range of initiatives reaching parts that other agencies cannot always reach, from social isolation and loneliness to food poverty, debt advice, bereavement support, and much more. Churches and other faith groups have premises, facilities, and often volunteers that can contribute to all this.
In Lancashire and, I am assuming, across the country, social prescribers, Councils for Voluntary Service, and local-authority family hubs are increasingly recognising what churches are doing in this arena of social action, and are either referring people to us, or having a physical presence at such events. (Tellingly, the National Academy for Social Prescribing has recently created a post for a strategic lead to champion the part played by faith in social prescribing.)
There is, however, still a great deal of ignorance within churches about activities and individuals in the public sector (and vice versa). So, besides the use of the Church Commissioners’ money for church-based posts, investment is also needed in enabler- or connector-type posts, helping churches better understand and connect better with (willing) public-sector partners.
PETER LUMSDEN
Gather Regional Connector and
Lancashire Forum of Faiths
2 Brookside, Old Langho
Blackburn BB6 8AP
Bombshell after lay-ministry accusation made
Madam, — Our church offers prayers after the service, where anyone can come for prayer with one of the prayer team. This takes place in a corner, but in full view of those milling around and clearing up. My husband and I feel privileged to be on this team.
So, it was an utter bombshell when the vicar told my husband that someone who had come to him for prayer had made a complaint that he was “too tactile” during their prayer time and she felt uncomfortable. This was devastating.
The trouble is, he doesn’t know the identity of the complainant or what exactly she complained about. Unfortunately this leads to guesswork. We have narrowed it down to one, or possibly two, people, both of whom we know: one we believed to be a long-term friend and he felt that it was OK, when praying, either to take her hand or give her a hug. The other one appears to have mental-health issues. Now we are looking at those people differently and feeling betrayed.
What exactly did the person complain of? Why did they feel the need to report it, rather than just say something at the time? An official complaint has implications of something much worse than taking someone’s hand or giving them a hug. Suppose it’s not either of these people we have in mind?
This complaint has been soul-destroying. It feels as if my husband is being tried with no evidence, no idea of who the complainant is, no jury, no right of reply. I feel like crying out to Jesus, like St Teresa of Ávila: “If this is how you treat your friends, it’s no wonder you have so few of them!”
There needs to be as much care for the person receiving the complaint as for the complainant. The effects of feeling wrongly accused or misinterpreted can be damaging and long-lasting.
NAME AND ADDRESS SUPPLIED
‘Carpenter’: author of prayer; church dedications
From Prebendary Norman Wallwork
Madam, — Like Bishop Graham James, when leading devotions I have often linked the prayer “O Christ, Master Carpenter” with the Millais painting Christ in the House of His Parents (Prayer for the Week, 13 June). Nevertheless, though George MacLeod frequently used the Master Carpenter prayer, the doughty founder of the Iona Community did not write it. The prayer was composed and published in 1900 by the Oxford academic and first headmaster of Haileybury College, Arthur Gray Butler (1831-1909).
NORMAN WALLWORK
Brookside Lodge
Three Horse Shoes
Cowley, Exeter EX5 5EU
From the Rt Revd Michael Bourke
Madam, — Many thanks to Graham James for his article on “Christ the Master Carpenter”, and its relevance to the life of a Peterborough housing estate. The best stained-glass representation of this subject which I know is in the east window of Morville Church near Bridgnorth — well worth a visit. And the most memorable church advert I ever saw proclaimed in large letters on the notice board of a new church on a Durham housing estate: “Carpenter needs Joiners”.
MICHAEL BOURKE
The Maltings, Little Stretton
Church Stretton
Shropshire SY6 6AP
From Canon Christopher Hall
Madam, — Bishop James Jones asks to know churches dedicated to Christ the Carpenter in the Anglican Communion. The Holy Carpenter Church was dedicated on 16 February 1958 in Hung Hom, Kowloon. It was built to provide a hostel for boys leaving St Christopher’s Home and needing employment and accommodation. Fourteen of them were employed first to level the site. The backs of the church pews pivoted to provide table space for local workers to eat their weekday meals.
CHRISTOPHER HALL
The Knowle, Deddington
Banbury OX15 0TB
Readings of John 16.13
From the Revd Dr C. J.-B. Hammond
Madam, — I write to complain about Cally Hammond’s Sunday Readings column for Trinity Sunday. She gave readers no indication that the familiar translation of John 16.13 — “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth” — was a perfectly good translation of a word formerly accepted in standard texts of the Greek New Testament, which has now given way to the reading that she advocated (“the Spirit will lead you in the way of all the truth”).
CALLY HAMMOND
Gonville and Caius College
Cambridge CB2 1TA
Multiplication game
From the Revd Stephen Collier
Madam, — What is the difference between revival, renewal, revitalisation, and multiplication (News, 6 June)?
STEPHEN COLLIER
9 Drew Gardens
Greenford UB6 7QF
