Letter: A church in partnership with its congregation

From Mr Geoffrey Ellis

Sir: One can sympathise with the Rev Kit Chalcraft (Another View: "Priests for the people", 18 October) for having lost his job, though from all accounts he was at least partly to blame, but he should not use your columns to make inaccurate observations on the current role of the laity in the Church of England.

In the parish in a neighbouring diocese we are coming to the end of an interregnum; a new parish priest joins us in January. From the start the parish, through the Parochial Church Council, was given every opportunity to decide who should minister to us. We drew up a "parish profile", which was discussed at a meeting with our suffragan bishop, the archdeacon and the rural dean, to ensure that they and ourselves knew the type of person we felt suitable.

The church wardens were then delegated by the PCC to interview and recommend a new incumbent for appointment by the diocesan bishop. Although one might criticise the time the whole process has taken, at no time was any pressure put on us by any authority in the church to accept or refuse any candidate. We were perhaps additionally fortunate in being a single-parish country benefice, so there were no other parishes to consult and the choice may therefore have been made simpler.

I do not know how the selection procedure in our diocese compares with that of Norwich, but Mr Chalcraft's statement that "it is time that the church involved its people responsibly" needs amending. We are involved; we accept the responsibility; we know that our church must become increasingly a partnership between clergy and laity.

Yours faithfully,

Geoffrey Ellis

Great Barton,

Suffolk

19 October