CLERGY IN REVOLT.

Manawatu Times, Volume XLIII, Issue 1444, 18 December 1919, Page 2

CLERGY IN REVOLT.

BRITISH UNION FORMED. INADEQUATE STIPENDS. CRITICISM OF THE BISHOPS. “My preposal for a trades union for clergy having met with such a response from all over the country, I have been able to launch the National Clerical Union with every prospect of success,” stated the Rev. C. Lloyd Evans, D.D., in the course of an interview in i.omlou recently. “We am lighting not for ourselves, but for our wives and children. The prospect this winter was indeed gloomy, especially to incumbents Who have to maintain vicarages too often far too large for their requirements, and 100 expensive to maintain, and in many cases, such as my own, unlit to live in. “The letters, of which I received over two hundred, nearly unanimously condemned the attitude of the bishops, who, however much they may care for the spiritual needs of the parishes, care nothing about the wants of the clergy. “Under the present system not only is no provision made for the widows and orphans of the clergy, apart from charity, but if on the vicar’s death his house is found to be dilapidated or out of repair his widow is robbed byhaving his very life policy of assurance claimed to pay for what the ecclesiastical harpies think is due from the estate of the late incumbent.

“Again, take sickness. A clergyman dreads it. He has to provide at his own expense for a substitute, pay his travelling expenses, board and lodging, as well as his own expenses. If an application is made to diocesan funds, one has the stereotyped answer, ’We can do nothing.’ “One incumbent, in desperation, asked his bishop to permit him to be a market gardener. This was forbidden as contrary to canonical law. DEAF EARS. “During the war, when we were daily expecting invasion, the Houses of Convocation met to discuss whether the service of King Charles the Martyr should be restored or not. Now the Enabling Bill, a Bill which gives the Bishops power to turn any vicar who displeases them into the streets, is occuping all their attention. The cry of men who are receiving less than many artisans and mechanics falls unheedingly on their ears. The poor archdeacons, who generally get the best living at the bishops’ disposal, and £2OO a year in addition, must have their wants considered by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. “If you want to improve your condition,” said one bishop to a struggling incumbent, who had spent more than he had received on his living, “why not resign?” “Our union is out to remedy this .state of things, to unite both beneficed and unbeneficed clergy in fighting for a living wage. WRATH AND PERSECUTION? "We don’t want to strike. We shall never strike against the public, though we may strike against the bishops, refuse to collect alms and subscriptions for every society except one which will minister to the need of poor and distressed clergy. “Charity! There are societies which minister this whose secretaries arid officials are far better paid than the bulk of the clergy. “We want, too, the help of the laity, not only to contribute our union funds, but to help us to make our needs known, so that we may approach Parliament, feeling that we have the sympathy and support of the laity, and that the proud prelates, who will not condescend to consider the needs of their clergy, may have by the force of public opinion to change their attitude and to feed and not starve Christ's sheep. “Our union is non-political, it belongs to no church party, but it is composed of men who cannot see their loved ones suffer any longer without endeavouring to help them. We are prepared, for episcopal persecution and episcopal wrath, but, though our bishops are heedless, the people of England are sound at heart.”