Stipends payments
Posted: 02 Nov 2006 @ 00:00
THE SYNOD gave final approval to the Draft Stipends (Cessation of Special
Payments) Measure, under which the clergy’s guaranteed annuities will now go
into the general pot for redistribution to the needier dioceses.
There was little debate, though the Archdeacon of Berkshire
, the Ven. Norman Russell, asked that a cumulative annual figure for the real
level of inter-diocesan support should be published with the annual figures, so
that parishes would know what the levels were.
Stewart Darlow (Chester) suggested that mutual support had
scarcely begun. James Cheeseman (Rochester) described the
setting up of trusts outside the control of PCCs as “a dangerous development”;
and the Archdeacon of Horsham, the Ven. Roger Combes, called
for an apology from the Church Commissioners for taking away what had been
guaranteed as little as 30 years ago.
The Measure was approved by all three Houses: Bishops 32-1; Clergy 94-8; and
Laity 138-13.