I'm a Church of England parish priest - AMA

[whyhere]

Baptisms, weddings, funerals, Sunday worship, belief in general - I'm at your service 🙂

About £26,000 pa.

I entirely believe you. Angels are messengers from God, and appear in many guises.

On an hourly basis I'm definitely under the minimum wage 😁

That's lovely to hear, thank you. It's hard to tell from this side of the pond how the relationship is from your perspective.

The rector at my last parish was gay. I used to sit with her wife during services and no one batted an eye.

I wasn't brought up to go to church. However I had a strong sense of God telling me that I needed to explore being ordained when I reached my early thirties.

Yes, free will is the answer where humans are concerned, certainly. However, so-called 'natural' disasters are different, of course. I believe that God created the world to have systems that allow it to function as its own complete entity, which means that God does not micro-manage every single aspect. As a much wiser person than I (Bishop John Gladwin) wrote, "God loved the world into being, and then let it go."

You're welcome: thank you for engaging.

I became a Christian following some terrible experiences with dark forces. Believing in God and praying was the answer, and after many years of being troubled, it went away. How would you deal with someone who was possessed?

Oh, and another one: there is a lot of talk about lay ministry at the moment. In my benefice, we've had a lay pastor for a long time, and we have a new reader. There's been a lot of talk about increasing the role of lay ministry. Do you have a perspective on this?

I'd also be interested to know how you understand lay people's responsibilities here. I don't feel I have a good understanding of what's expected. I know a lot of the congregation in our benefice are very anxious to pitch in. There are lots of people who will happily do whatever is asked. But, if I understand rightly, pitching in to help is quite different from having a vocation to the priesthood, and I don't know how you bridge that gap?

@custardbear might I ask why you are so against it?

The cost of a minister in my diocese is £62k.

Why do my children drag me to church every Sunday? And does it matter if I turn up disheveled and blurry eyed? Shouldn't it a be the parent dragging their child and not the other way round? And at what age can I send them to church on their own so I can have a Sunday lie in?

John Gladwin confirmed me!

The head of the CofE is the Archbishop of Canterbury, and then the Archbishop of York. Bishops who run each diocese (a large, geographical group of parishes) are called Diocesan Bishops and each diocese generally has at least one Suffragen (assistant) Bishop. Then come Archdeacons, then Rural (or Area) Deans, then parish priests, who have a variety of job titles - Rector, Vicar, or priest in charge. These latter three are pretty much all the same - the titles vary for historical reasons. Only the latter three types of priest run parishes. Archdeacons handle a lot of the legal stuff.

Thank you for your answer and your time x

Do you agree with the Archbishop or Canterbury that gay sex is incompatible with scripture?

what do you think about abortion?

do you believe everyone is good inside or that some people are just arseholes?

do you believe in ghosts? Fairies? Other supernatural beings? Aliens?

why do men want to kill people?

Pleaee cwn you say what your views are on abortion? I had a termination because my baby was found to have structural and other issues on a scan. I opted to abort and I have felt guilty about it ever since. It was 8 years ago. I think about my baby every day and worry about dying because I think God will punish me. What can I do?

Ah - sorry I didn't pick up your meaning.

I genuinely don't mind at all when people make naive or un-thought-through statements; the Bible/study groups I run are honestly one of my favourite things. Sometimes real insights come from people who think about complex matters of theology in very simple ways. If people are wrong it's my responsibility, of course, to steer them in the right direction, but I hope that I do so kindly and tactfully.

Do you ever stop and think about what sort of “God” inflicts such suffering on the world? Does it bother you that your life is dedicated to someone you believe in, who causes horrific illnesses/famine/childhood cancer etc etc

Forgive me not answering your second point, as I've already done so a couple of times upthread (and am struggling to keep up with all the questions 🙂). Re your first question, yes, I believe that Muslims and Christians (and Hindus, Jews and Sikhs, for that matter) worship the same God.

Exactly.

Prayer and holy water (and I don't mean that in the least flippantly). I'm sorry that you had such difficult experiences but delighted that you found the way through.

I’ve been to a convent school (private) and was treated, not terribly but certainly unsympathetically. Why take Protestants who are non practising into the convent and then expect them to be holier than thou? Disclaimer, most of the Catholic girls there rebelled at age 15/16.

One of my close friends works for a Catholic Diocese, the things she’s seen and heard in her job and the way she’s been treated there by the archbishop, priests etc, really do make me questions their morals etc. She also worked for a Protestant cathedral and witnessed or heard about sexual abuse of choirboys there which has had repercussions into adult life. This would be laughable but it’s still going on and covered up.

I did go to church as a child but am very much put off it all now.

You're most welcome.

Signing off for the night now, or tomorrow's services might be a bit ropey! Thanks for all the questions.