From the Revd Dr W. S. Monkhouse
Sir, - The Archbishop of Canterbury seems, not surprisingly, to
be adopting the survival tactics of the upper echelons of
industry.
When the going gets tough and organisations are perceived as
failing, senior management, especially those at the pinnacle,
employ the age-old practice of blaming those who do most of the
living and dying on the ground: that is, the sales force.
"If only there were more people like us," they cry from a
distance, as they suck the remaining morale out of already
disparaged, distressed, and distracted employees. "For only we have
the vision, only we have been granted the vision which, because of
your inadequacy, you cannot grasp."
Good vicars will continue to serve the Lord by quietly serving
their people, not because of the Archbishop's views, but in spite
of them. As they cope with the tsunami of correspondence,
initiatives, questionnaires, funerals, weddings, baptisms,
multiparish benefices, and five or six services a Sunday, their
recognition will come not from within the organisation, but from
without, as they live the gospel - as long as, that is, they feel
affirmed by episcopal and archiepiscopal pronouncements.
W. S. MONKHOUSE
The Rectory, Coote Street
Portlaoise, Co. Laois, Ireland