“THE POOR PARSON.”

Manawatu Times, Volume XLII, Issue 1803, 30 April 1921, Page 8

“THE POOR PARSON.”

DISCLOSURES AT SYNOD. Remarkable disclosures concerning (lie position of some of the lower-paid clergymen were frankly made during a discussion at the Anglican Synod in Bathurst (New South Wales), at which a scheme for the payment of stipends from a central fund, and for various increases in existing stipends, mot with a decidedly mixed reception. The Kev, J. Parker, of Peak Hill, criticised the scheme as inequitable, and. said that a single man at, say, Mudgce, Parkes, Orange, or some other big centre, would bo receiving £3OO a year, plus marriage fees, which might be estimated at £2OO a year, a. married man with three or four or six or seven children at Peak Hill or some such centre, in connection with which he would not like to estimate the marriage fees, would be obliged to eke out his existence on barely £3OO a year. It seemed to him that there were three alternatives for the clergy. First, they would have to revert to celibacy; second, become Malthusians; or, third, have a proper provision for the clergy and their wives and children. He knew that clergy in dire distress appealed to the Bishop, only to learn that he had no funds at his disposal to assist them. At 22 years of age he had left £SOO a year in the commercial world to receive £SO a year in the clerical. One member of the Synod said he was an economical man, he never “went on the bust,” nor did he waste his money at horse-races, but he could assure them that he didn’t have one pair of sheets in the house, and didn’t know where he was going to get blankets to keep his children warm in the coming winter. Was it a matter of justice and right when, while he was enduring these conditions, £12,000 was being set aside for a new cathedral? His one difliculty in life was to keep smiling. He did not want to get bitter or sore, but when a question of that kind came before him it made him feel indignant. The Rev. T. W. Barry (Stuart Town) said his parish had decided that his stipend should he raised from £l2O to £l5O, but it was now four months behind in payment. He had had to borrow a couple of pounds to come to the Synod. It was stated that the people would not give. They had given liberally,' and the poor had given more than the rich. (Applause.) He would never get £175 in his parish, and he would never expect to get it. A few days ago the people of his parish had offered to get up a horse-race meeting to give him a few pounds. (Laughter.) < Bishop Long said he felt that no married minister should receive less than £3OO per annum. He also felt that it was not just to spend money on building while the priest was un-der-paid. It should be recognised that there had been a tremendous advance in the cost of living. The boy who clipped tickets on the tram had his basic wage, and so should the clergyman. ' Mr .1. O’Keefe (Wyalong) said that in many of their churches money from bazaars, offertories, and all sources was put into one pool, and too many of the clergy wore ready to accept it in that form for the work of administering the Holy Sacrament. Dr. Long said that he had heard nothing about the dignity of the clergy. A clergyman appeared to be regarded in some quarters as a man employed by a local committee to do certain work. He was not that at all. He was a priest of the Church, with an historical right.