Church to consider fewer bishops

The Church of England's ruling body, the generalized synod, is to debate whether to turn the sort of bishops in a effort to spend 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 halt the fall in lowly clergy numbers which have fallen by nearly half over the past 50 years.

But bishops feature their workload is large than ever and selection their numbers 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 period the sort of lowly clergy has plummeted and unnatural whatever parishes to merge.

Unpaid volunteers

Supporters of a revilement in the sort of bishops feature digit costs the equivalent of about 10 lowly staff.

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

Dr John SaxbeeBishop of attorney

But bishops feature their workload has accumulated in past years, in part 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 unpaid volunteer priests who today attain up more than a quarter of the Church's workforce.

Bishop of attorney Dr John Saxbee told BBC News: "A bishop's job 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 part instance or voluntary.

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

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

Among them is a organisation to process the retirement age of clergy from 65 to 68 in visit to turn the pension bill.

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