Bishop Of Southwell On Shortage Of Ministers

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28897, 18 May 1959, Page 7

Bishop Of Southwell On Shortage Of Ministers

There is a shortage of ministers in churches throughout the world but although this created a big problem the situation was improving. said the Bishop of Southwell (the Rt. Rev. F. R. Barry) in Christchurch yesterday. *’lt is a very long-term proposition and the only answer is a big-scale renewal in the church and a new understanding of the Christian vocation in the church.” he said.

Bishop Barry who is chairman of the recruitment committee of the Church of England, is in Christchurch during a two-week tour of New Zealand. He intends to lecture to the clergy and discuss recruiting problems. “I am trying to learn how they are getting on elsewhere,” he said. After his New Zealand tour, Bishop Barry will stay for a short time in Canada where he will meet various Bishops and members of the clergy. “Now there are far more places open for serving God and the church than there were 100 years ago. In those days if a boy wanted to serve God he just became a minister but now he may be a schoolteacher, for instance, and still be of service.” said Bishop Barry. This was one of the reasons for the need for more ministers. Another was that before World xWar I members of the clergy were drawn from England, but npw there were insufficient to

• supplement this demand. “Now they have to grow their own ministry,” he said. The recruiting of new ministers concerned the whole church and not just small committees and it was a world-wide problem which was not confined to the Church of England, said Bishop Barry. Progress was being made and the “idea of ordination” was back in the schools. , “I should say that in five or ; six years, things will be very considerably better,” he said. “The

main job is to get the whole church to understand the situation. It doesn’t mean to try to dragoon reluctant people into being ordained. There are hundreds of people to whom the idea of ordination has never occurred.” When the Bishop is not doing recruiting work, he writes books on theology, walks in mountain country and digs his garden. He is accompanied off his tour by his wife who is British president of the Girls’ Friendly Society.