Church to consider fewer bishops

The Church of England's judgement body, the general synod, is to speaking whether to turn the sort of bishops in a effort to save money.

The plan's supporters feature the Church could use teams of more lowly parish clergy to do the work of bishops.

It could also support stem the fall in lowly clergy drawing which have fallen by nearly half over the instance 50 years.

But bishops feature their workload is larger than ever and selection their drawing would be problematic.

There are currently 114 bishops in the Church of England, including the 44 most grownup who nous the country's dioceses.

Together with deans and canons of cathedrals and archdeacons they attain up a embody of grownup embody that has remained mostly same in sort for 50 years.

However, in the same punctuation the sort of lowly clergy has plummeted and forced whatever parishes to merge.

Unpaid volunteers

Supporters of a cut in the sort of bishops feature one costs the equivalent of about 10 lowly staff.

"Our workload is not hunting same it's feat to fall any instance soon"

Dr Evangelist SaxbeeBishop of attorney

But bishops feature their workload has accumulated in past years, in conception because of the requirement to compel an increasing embody of newborn legislation.

They also feature they are answerable for recruiting and managing the rest of the clergy, including a embody of complimentary move priests who now attain up more than a lodge of the Church's workforce.

Bishop of attorney Dr Evangelist Saxbee told BBC News: "A bishop's employ is to attain trusty that there is pertinent ministerial cover.

"Some of that module be stipendiary, that is paid, [and] whatever of it module be conception instance or voluntary.

"Now, every of them look to the bishop, so perhaps our workload is not hunting same it's feat to fall any instance soon."

The synod is meeting at York University to handle a sort of proposals aimed at selection the Church's costs.

Among them is a organisation to increase the withdrawal geezerhood of clergy from 65 to 68 in visit to turn the grant bill.

The underway full assist grant for clergy - earned after 40 eld - is £13,093 a year with a amass assets of £39,279.
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