Six,—I do not wish to enter into an argument with
" Churchwarden " on the subject of Church reform. The need is there I have no doubt, but perhaps it may be a matter of opinion as to what shall be reformed and how the reform shall be carried out. Once begun the argument will continue ad nauseam, and all who take part will, no doubt, enjoy the privilege, so sacred in politics of Church and State, of crying "stinking fish." Whether any real good is achieved in- this way I am prepared to doubt. There is, however, a danger in all this indignant and wholesale criticism of the 6hurch ; the ignorant may believe it. It may even be; as " Churchwarden " suggests, that first-class or -even second-class hearts and brains may be deterred from Holy Orders. This would indeed be a tragedy, and for this reason alone do I seek to answer the letter he _ has written.
The gist of " Churchwarden's " letter seems to be the question of the sufficient and equitable remuneration of the clergy. Without giving any facts or figures, he repeats the sweeping statements so often made. Some of the clergy are grossly overpaid and some 'scandalously underpaid, and there is neither rhyme nor reason in it all. To my mind he ignores altogether the quiet work of real reform that has been going on for many years in dioceses all over the country. May I seek to answer him with facts and figures which apply to my own diocese, Liverpool, believing as I do that they will apply, in some measure, to most dioceses? In Liver- pool diocese, since the offer of " Scheme K " .by the Ecclesiastical Coni- missioners, there are not more than one or two parishes out of 225-1 know of only one—which have a stipend worth less than £5oo per' year and a house. There are eleven stipends more than £600,..nine more than £700, two more than £800, four more than £90o and seven more than £1,00o per year. Only one of the highly paid incumbencies can be classed as a country parish, and that one has a population of nearly r,5oo people. I estimate that a sharing of income on something like the Burnham scale for teachers would result in an addition of only £m or £12 per incumbent per year throughout the diocese.
After fifteen years' service a school teacher receives under the new Burnham scale, with its 48 per cent. increase on pre-war salaries, £525 per annum. Only after sixteen years' service does a head teacher in 4 Grade I receive a stipend of £570 per anntmt The maximum salary for a head master in a Grade V school after twenty years' service is £759 per annum. A clergyman can hope to receive a benefice after at most ten years' service as a curate. Many are preferred to a benefice after five or six years as a curate. " Scheme K" is this year extended to include parishes with a maximum stipend of £600 per annum," and I do not doubt that in Liverpool diocese and in others also we shall press on to attain this amount as the minimum salary for a beneficed clergyman. It would appear, therefore, that the Church can compare favourably with the State in the remuneration of its servants, and with such com- parison we can be content at least for the present, knowing that it will be only for the present.—I am, yours faithfully, J. C. LONGBOTTOM, Rector of Warrington and Rural Dean of Winwick. The Rectory, Warrington.
Previous page
