Letters: How to save Cambridge’s reputation

Save the parish

Sir: The Revd Marcus Walker eloquently describes the crisis that has taken hold in the Church of England (‘Breaking faith’, 10 July). He correctly states that the church belongs to the people of England and not to the archbishops, bishops or clergy.

As he wrote, the costs of parish clergy are not a ‘key limiting factor’. They should be the church’s first priority in terms of costs. Stipendiary parish clergy play a vital role in bringing the Christian gospel and pastoral care to their communities. Without properly trained and ordained clergy, there would be no holy communion, no absolution and remission of our sins and no church weddings. I would suggest that there would also be a dearth of volunteers and donors to pay for the bureaucracies in diocesan church houses. Parishes which have been merged into benefices under one vicar are inevitably declining, as forecast in the C of E’s own official growth report.