UNEMPLOYMENT IN THE CHURCH.
[To THZ EDITOR, OF THE " SPECTATOR:1 Sin,—The letter of your correspondent " Iophon " in last week's issue contains two rather grave misrepresentations. He says that "there are too many clergy," and, at the end of his letter, he says that "no attempt is made" to deal with clergy who are unemployed. These misrepresentations are all the more grave because he refers to certain fade, and suggests thereby that the facts to which he alludes support the state- ments he makes. There is a prima facie answer to his contention that there are too many clergy. Since the census of 1881 the population of England and Wales has increased by more than ten millions; this must necessarily have created a very large number of additional pastoral tasks. The admis- sions to the ministry year by year, though they have considerably improved during the past ten years, have not yet come back to the high figures which were usual in the 'eighties. The force of this prima facie argument is not seriously weakened by the fact that many incumbents are anxious to obtain curates who are young. In clerical work, as in some other branches of public service, there are tasks which can only be fitly undertaken by those men who have strong physical health and other advantages of youth to help them. There are many colliery parishes and rough industrial districts which are hardly fit tasks for a man of middle age with family responsibilities. There are also many populous working-class suburbs where a large clerical staff ought to include at least one member who is young in his sympathies and in his outlook upon life. The prima facie argument is, moreover, very little affected by reference to the clergy of private means who have retired from regular parochial work. It ought not to be forgotten that the Church of England has in past years been very greatly indebted to such men. Their training at public school and University has been obtained without cost to the Chi:troll; they have in many cases worked for quite small stipends, and sometimes even without any stipend at all ; and they have retired without claiming any pension. It might be assumed in the case of men who have given so important a personal contribution to the Church's work that they have not retired without some sufficient reason for so doing. And yet again it may be said that the prima fade argument is not seriously weakened by showing that there are some clergy of middle age who are at present unem- ployed. In every profession there must be some in middle life who have not been able to maintain a normal standard of good health or efficiency in other respects for duties which have to be undertaken. For others who are well qualified in every respect the thing that is wanted is a reform of the Church's financial arrangements and, with such reform, an improvement in the plans for clerical training, maintenance, and superannuation. So far from it being true that nothing has been done, as your correspondent represents, it is a fact that three years ago the Archbishops of Canterbury and York appointed a Committee to con- sider what improvements could be made in the methods of Church finance. That Committee presented a report in the autumn of 1911, and the details of the report have been carefully discussed by gatherings of Church people in almost every part of the country during the past twelve months. In some dioceses action is about to be taken on lines more or less in agreement with those suggested by the Archbishops' Committee. Obviously, the coming in of a better scheme of finance will enable us to deal with problems all round. We could train the young men who are strong in physical health and full of missionary-hearted zeal, and the rough industrial districts could have them for the missionary work which in many cases can only be undertaken by men who have the advantages of youth. We could also arrange better than we do at present for the education of the families of the clergy and the places and conditions of service of the clergy themselves. So far from nothing having been done, very much earnest thought and strenuous effort has been given, and it is fitting, I think, that public testimony on behalf of Church people generally should be given on the point.—!
Hon. Canon of Canterbury.
Additional Curates Society's Office, Westminster.
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