LONDON POOR CLERGY HOLIDAY FUND
[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR, It is to be hoped that the appeal under the above heading will result in sufficient funds being forthcoming to achieve its objective, but it seems deplorable that such a Society should need to exist, and appeals be made to the general public to pay for holidays for clergy in the Church of England. (I believe I am correct in stating that no such appeal is now made by the Free Churches.)
Elementary morality demands adequate recompense for services rendered, and when these include a seven-day week it is doubly important that the salary should be sufficient to cover the cost of a break for rest and recuperation once a year at least.
But the case becomes worse when it is realised that according to a booklet recently issued (with the approval of 14 Bishops, 44 well-known other clergy, and 22 lay men and women prominent in public life) adequate funds do actually exist, and it is only a matter of more equitable distribution to ensure that no single priest in the Church of England is deprived of the opportunity of taking an annual holiday.
This is essentially a question for Parochial Church Councils, and if they would read the booklet in question (Men, Money and the Ministry, published by Messrs. Longmans, Green and Co., is.) and then send the necessary Resolution to the Archbishop of Canterbury or York, perhaps the receipt of many thousands of such resolutions might carry weight.—
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