VICARAGES FOR SALE.

Western Star, 26 July 1935, Page 2

VICARAGES FOR SALE.

CHURCH PROBLEM IN ENGLAND. Fifty parsons are wanted as rectors and vicars of country parishes in England. Their salaries will be about £4OO a year, but no applicants have yet come forward. The reason is that on his £4OO a year a parson has to keep up a rectory or vicarage, often with 20 rooms, which requires at east £ISOO or £2OOO a year. The ecclesiastical authorities puzzled to know what to do, are in some places merging two parishes into one, and allowing a rector, with the double salary, to run two churches. I tl other cases they' are selling the old vicarages for what they will fetch, using one-half of th© proceeds to build a new small vicarage of six or seven rooms, and putting the rest in trust to increase the yearly stipend;. This method is helping to solve tile difficulty in some villages, but it can only proceed slowly. The cliurcli authorities have more than 100 old vicarages for sale, and buyers only come along slowly. Another proposal is that rich young men from universities should enter th© fhuroll, hut these young men are preferring to go into business.