From Canon John Goodchild
Sir, - When I was an incumbent, I believed that God had a
special care for every parishioner, whatever his or her faith and
morals, and that it was my calling to express this. An essential
part of that expression was funeral ministry. However many funerals
I took, I was happy for fees to go into central funds to support a
nationwide stipendiary ministry, where every incumbent was paid at
the same rate. If they had a smaller parish and took fewer funerals
than I did, I assumed that they spent their time in other pastoral
ministry.
Many retired clergy in Liverpool
diocese are currently upset, as funeral directors are contacting
them for help because they cannot get certain incumbents to take
funerals of their parishioners, and, when they agree to help out,
they are expected to return half their fees to maintain lazy
incumbents.
The solution would be to make
incumbents pay fees to those who took funerals of their
parishioners. If they failed to do this, they should be sacked for
gross failure to provide pastoral care.
I am thankful to have a conscientious
incumbent who loves people. I now no longer take funerals myself,
as I lack the time and energy for proper pastoral follow-up.
JOHN GOODCHILD
39 St Michaels Road
Liverpool L17 7AN