From the Revd David Osborne
Sir, — In the debate and
subsequent correspondence about clergy stipend differentials, a crucial point
seems to have been missed. At no point was there any suggestion that lay
employees of the Church should not have pay differentials. Neither was it
proposed that lay church members should all live to a modest standard, and give
any surplus income that they might have to poorer members or to charity.
If the proposal at Synod had been passed, it would not have been the
Church’s setting an example to the world, but would have been the Church’s
imposing another virtue on the clergy which was not expected, let alone
required, of the laity. That is not the same thing.
DAVID OSBORNE
The Rectory,
Pilton,
Shepton Mallet BA4 4DX