… it is true, and not just cynicism, that an automated priest with a perpetual grin on his face, everlastingly wandering around the parish and automatically “mouthing” what would be only quite a small repertoire of platitudes, would meet the vast majority of needs.
Nick Stacey, Who Cares, (1971)

By the beginning of the 1960s with the publication of the Paul Report1, it had become clear that the stresses and strains of ministry were beginning to have an unendurable effect on the clergy of the Church of England. Part of Paul’s examination of the state of the Church was the first serious, statistically valid, polling of the activities and morale of its clergy. Almost 1,000 questionnaires were processed in the summer of 1962 to become the statistical groundwork of Paul’s recommendations. Thirty two questions were asked, ranging from the simple, numerical (Easter communicants, full time staff and so on), to the complex, attitudinal (“Are you able to secure a period of relaxation each day?”, “Do you have too little to do?”)2. Paul allowed space for the clergy to elaborate on these questions if they wished, and he reproduced some of their comments in the body of his report. They make heart-breaking reading, even after forty five years. Example 30: A town incumbent, who believes his to be a “glorious parish”:

‘The parish will quite literally kill me one day and I am quite prepared for this… am in a chronic state of perspiration (so people will not approach me) and am so desperately tired… Oh how desperately I need a holiday, or if not that, just a bit of interest on the part of anyone in the utterly impossible task with which I am confronted.’3

Again, a town incumbent (Example 33):

‘The time sheet shows an average week of 70 hours. When special events come round such as Lent, Christmas, Harvest, Confirmation, etc., this has to be stepped up to 80/90. It is not that one is unwilling to work these long hours, as the whole of one’s life is dedicated, but the effect is disastrous. One feels a sense of being held fast in a machine that grinds endlessly on. Hobbies are impossible. Family life is neglected and worse still one becomes uninteresting and dull to other people. This feeling is made worse here by this unhappy parish. As my predecessor has said, he “never knew what the crucifixion really meant until he came to Y…”’4

And, to show that overwork is not the only cause of poor morale, Paul took into consideration those who felt themselves to be under-worked:

‘It is questionable whether it is right to have a resident incumbent in many of these places. A man can easily lose heart when Sunday after Sunday he is ministering to less than six people at any one service…’

‘… after you are instituted they leave you alone… A small living is a pleasant enough life if you are content to simply plod on and minister to the needs of your flock, and spend the rest of your life in the garden or reading. However, if you are young and active— after a few years in such a parish you realise that there is really little else you can do and you begin to chafe at the bit. The problem then arrives, what are you to do? The only thing you can do is to see your bishop, and tell him that you would like to move so that you will not stagnate. He simply promises to bear your case in mind, and there the matter rests.’5

Continue reading →

1. see note on this post [↩]
2. Leslie Paul, The Deployment and Payment of the Clergy : A Report, (Westminster: Church Information Office for the Central Advisory Council for the Ministry, 1964) pp. 228–230. [↩]
3. Paul, Deployment, p. 72. [↩]
4. Paul, Deployment, p. 72.-73. [↩]
5. Paul, Deployment, p. 86, 87. [↩]