CLERGY IN EEVOLT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17338, 9 December 1919, Page 11

CLERGY IN EEVOLT.

BRITISH UNION FORMED. INADEQUATE STIPENDS. CRITICISM OF THE BISHOPS.' - "My proposal for a trades union for I 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 London recently. "Vve are fighting 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 too expensive to maintain, and in many cases, such as my own, unfit 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 or the spiritual needs of the parishes, care nothing about the wants of the clergy. "Under the present system not only is °° , provision made for the widows and orphans of the clergy, apart from charity, Jin .°V J-,™?/! death his house "is found to be dila pi dated or out of repair hii widow is robbed by having his very life policy .of assurance claimed to pay or what the ecclesiastical harpies think is due from the estate of the late incum bent. '.'I t is robbery under the guise of religion, as it is impossible to maintain the buildings on the present income of most or the livings. .«*««• "Again, take sickness. A clergvman exrenV'f He has to provide at his" own expend for a substitute, pay his traveling expenses, board and lodging, asi well made' T" eXpenses " "an Ration 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 tiont.f TT' the HouSes of CWci tion met to discuss whether the service for King Charles the Martyr should be leßnI e Rn? d v not - Now the Enabling Bin! a Bill which gives the bishops power to th?\? n -V who dis PleaseV (L into Hon tI ' M OCcu P- vin g M their attenl~T\k J? 7 ° men who are receiving aIL tht $*¥ "**?*!* and mechanic! ISS«£ Dheedlnlv on their ears. The poor archdeacons, who generally get the test living at the bishops' disposal, and £200 L yea ID , addition,- must Save their wants considered by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, v^iuiuia "'lf you want to improve your condition said one bishop to a struggling incumbent who had spent more thin he had received on his living, ' why not resign?' Our union is out to remedy this state of things to unite both beneficed and unbenefaced clergy in fighting for a living 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 distresed clergy. .' "Charity! There are societies which minister this whose secretaries and officials are far better paid than the bulk of the clergy. '" We want, too, the help of the laity, not only to contribute to 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 tljeir 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."