[Magdalen] Priest in Charge.

[Roger Stokes]

On 04/09/2015 19:20, Jay Weigel wrote:
> When I visited my former parish in Tennessee, which had been left in a mess
> by its previous rector and had just been left by its interim who accepted
> an interim post with another congregation, that was what I found--they had a strong senior and junior warden, and people had stepped up.

They also need clergy to have given them the confidence they they can 
lead the parish.  The situation this side of the pond in that almost 
invariably when an incumbent leaves there is a lag before the next 
priest arrives to take charge of the parish.  It has been said that this 
period is when the parish finds itself.  Hopefully it won't be too long, 
because they can start drifting, but the laity who have seen the clergy, 
with our own idiosyncracies and foibles, come and go have to keep the 
show on the road witgh the help of supply clergy from wherever to take 
services.

It is also important that the plan for the future is realistic and 
sustainable.  Now that the C/E has caught up with the real world as 
regards payment of the clergy is concerned that means (except in real 
mission situations) paying for what they get.  Last year I retired from 
the third parish I had charge of.  In each of them I have been the last 
full-timer because they were never going to be big enough (given other 
parishes around) to be able to afford a full-time priest.

I sought to tncoyrage and equip the laity to be able to keep going, 
making them less priest-reliant and more confident.  What will happen in 
the longer term with my last parish I don't know but the other two are 
still open and serving the local people - something that was far from a 
given when I went to them.

Roger