Lean Stipends Drawn from Jumble Sales The vexed questions of the curate's stipend, status, and pension were recently discussed at a meeting of clergy in St. Paul's Mr. J. Penderel-Brodhurst, Chairman of the Association for improving the status of the curate, said that it appeared now that the Association "was on the point of achieving one of its main objects—the obtaining of the Convocation franchise for the unbeneficed clergy. "It would be absurd," ho said, "that young people who have had little experience of Church work should be given a church franchise while unbeneficed clergy, who have grown grey in the service of the Church, were denied that right."
Canon T. A. Lacey recommended the payment of the stipends of working clergy out of common diocesan funds. At present some of them came out of sales of work and jumble sales. There was a lack of system in manipulating the funds, "In Worcester," he said, "we have parishes which enjoy an endowment of over £1,000 a year. Next door is a parish of 12,000 people where there is only £250 per year."
Canon Lacey supported the pooling of existing funds in each diocese—including those relating to the Bishop—from which each beneficed clergyman should receive a minimum of £400 a year and the assistant priest a mininium of £200. He also recommended that the unbeneficed, clergy should be admitted to a pension scheme on the same footing as the beneficed.
The Rev. F. J. Caithness said his vicar had resigned and the successor had written to him that he would not require his services, "I may have to contemplate," he said, "after 39 years in the service of the Church, some cther means earning my bread. The Rishon does not care what becomes of a curate—nct a rap!"
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.