With several vacancies arising in local significant Churches there is a sense that there is a once in a generation opportunity to restructure the whole Deanery. Inevitably this means change, which is never a popular topic in Church circles. A meeting tonight for representatives of Churches from across the area will now have to discuss a little more detail in a document which has been batting around for a while, but previously has been easy to ignore when given some distant future time scale - sadly the moment is now upon us.
So I am praying for patience because it is in these situations that issues and needs are discussed with Clergy present, but at which Clergy are frequently overlooked in all this - as if somehow changing boundaries or responsibilities doesn't effect us in any way.
There is a bit of a buzz caused by a Times article concerning a Parish in Canterbury Diocese who are being asked to pay £40K+ for a part-time House for Duty Priest. The question is asked
How can a part-timer possibly do newsletters, chair two boards of school governors, do house visits and everything else required for four busy parishes?
which invites the reciprocal statement
if that's what your Priest is thought of as being asked to do then no wonder we are all in the pickle we seem to be in.
My prayer for patience is about 12 hours too late as I was button-holed by a retired senior Clergyman last night who bewailed the state of things. I wanted to tell him not to blame my generation for this, but possibly to look closer to home...


Recent Comments