Vicars being made redundant ?

I believe there's a shortage of vicars, despite dropping congregation numbers, so I doubt they'd be made redundant, but could be moved to another parish. I think that once trained they're pretty much guaranteed a job, but selection for training can be quite difficult despite the shortage.

I read once that the clergy have precious little in the way of legal employment rights, because their employer is considered to be God and he could never be summoned to court ?

What a load of cop out shit! As if that absolves their earthly employers from any responsibilities! ☹️!]

quote:Originally posted by Ellena
What a load of cop out shit! As if that absolves their earthly employers from any responsibilities! ☹️!]

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I don't know if it's true mind ?

Nope have never heard of a Vicar beiing made redundant and have never seen an job advertisment either.

Having said that, am wondering why some Vicars continue at the moment. Our Vicar has had a terrible week with someone setting fire to his garage which is attached to the vicarage. [V]

Luckily he is ok.

quote:Originally posted by hazel
I read once that the clergy have precious little in the way of legal employment rights, because their employer is considered to be God and he could never be summoned to court ?

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Well you never hear of the church/god ever being sued for employment issues do you, so maybe you are correct

There is a Billy Connely film called "The Man who Sued God" I think, I have seen clips and it looked funny..?

I think you're right about the re-shuffle. I know a local parish now has a service only once a week by a vicar from a nearby town. Shame as the Church is usualy locked up.......

quote:Originally posted by Ethel
There is a Billy Connely film called "The Man who Sued God" I think, I have seen clips and it looked funny..?

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Yeah Ive seen trailers for that but never actually watched it so don't know what he was trying to sue god for.

quote:Originally posted by bettyb
Just another random pondering from me tonight ?. Have you ever heard of anyone such as a vicar/priest/nunid="red"> ever being made redundant. I was just thinking about this when reading the local paper and the local priest based in a church on a derelict estate commenting that he has hardly anyone attending his service anymore and he is being paid to do nothing. I know they probably shift them around and do a reshuffle when people retire but I have never heard of them ever making them redundant. Equally I have never seen a job advert for the same. ?

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Being a nun isn't a job, it's a way of life so pretty impossible to be made redundant!

I did go to a school that started out life as a convent school and dropped the "convent" bit from its name when I was there, hardly any of the nuns taught any more but it was more because they were getting ancient and dying off than because anyone made them redundant!

They pretty much just shuffle them around as far as I know (Dad is one!), they can get sacked though - but it has to be something pretty bad!

quote:Originally posted by Ethel
There is a Billy Connely film called "The Man who Sued God" I think, I have seen clips and it looked funny..?

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Yeah, clips were ok... the film was pretty mediocre though, sorry! ?

SA. ?

A lot of them are looking after multiple parishes and are pretty stretched.

Article about it, if you're interested:

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/law/article1061496.ece

quote:Originally posted by MarineGirl
Article about it, if you're interested:

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/law/article1061496.ece

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THat's the one I remembered. Phew. Glad I didn't make it up ?

You reminded me Hazel, I'd definitely heard of it - so was quite quick to find! Definitely a bad situation in my view, hope they get protection.

They can be sacked in the sense that they can be taken away from their parish and not given a new one. They would still be paid by the church, though. They can also have their licences removed/suspended, meaning they can't perform things like marriages, funerals and blessing the bread and wine.

They can also be defrocked, which permanently removes their ability to act as priests - sort of un-ordaining. This almost never happens.

This is all in the Anglican church btw - I don't think Catholic priests can be defrocked, though they can be banned from acting as priests by the church (ordination is a sacrament for Catholics, you can't reverse a sacrament).

quote:Originally posted by MarineGirl
Article about it, if you're interested:

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/law/article1061496.ece

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That article is interesting, thanks for that. I was never aware of the massive difference in their employment rights compared to other people.

MG that is a very interesting article, cheers for posting.

If the C of E did have to award its employees the same kinds of rights as anyone else, presumably policy on gay clergy would have to be modified somewhat?

quote:Originally posted by Ms. Scarlett
MG that is a very interesting article, cheers for posting.

If the C of E did have to award its employees the same kinds of rights as anyone else, presumably policy on gay clergy would have to be modified somewhat?

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Is there a policy on gay clergy? I thought it was more fluid than that and up to individual bishops - same as choosing any person for ordination tbh. But you're right that that whole approach might not stand up to employment law in terms of fair appointment if the reason for not appointing is "the holy spirit led me to say no" ?

I think the policy is that celibate homosexuals can be ordained - I'm pretty sure that's official policy. In practice I think there is a lot of don't-ask-don't-tell going on, and of course there are non-celibate gay clergy who don't make much of a secret of it, and equally there might well be bishops who don't want to select/ordain even celibate homosexuals, so yes, I think a lot of it is up to individual bishops but there is still some official policy.

I think there would be scope for people rejected at selection conference to refer to anti-discrimination laws. I do agree that the general approach might not stand up well to legal scrutiny in that sense, but then you could probably say the same about many recruitment processes where recruiters are looking for a certain sort of person (though admittedly bringing the holy spirit into it does confuse matters!)