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Diocesan Differences
As well as the analysis that I did on the adverts, I also compared Dioceses to the national averages, and it was interesting to see that there were differences in the emphases in different dioceses. This sheet contains comparisons either using the current selection criteria or the future ones. For the future ones there is… Read more
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Clergy Recruitment
In her research on clergy wellbeing Lesley identified that clergy in ill fitting posts felt less well. It is anecdotally known that parishes would turn down the Archangel Gabriel for being under-qualified and for my study I looked at how parishes advertise for new incumbents. When I worked in industry HR provided me with a… Read more
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Living in the goldfish bowl
Diocesan Counsellors are there for both clergy and their families and many of the counsellors talked about the stresses of ministry life on those living in the Vicarage. One issue is trying to coordinate days off – I wrote about that here. Yesterday Jules Middleton wrote about the issues she faced when she first was… Read more
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On not being a mug
This is a guest post from Jules Middleton. This week, eminent classicist Professor Mary Beard tweeted: Can I ask academics of any level of seniority how many hours a week they reckon they work. My current estimate is over 100. I am a mug. But what is the norm in real life? As you might… Read more
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I carry an inhaler everywhere, I take an antidepressant every morning. Big deal. . . says Justin Welby
The Church Times reports that at the mental health workshop at Lambeth Archbishop Welby recently said: “I carry an inhaler everywhere, I take an antidepressant every morning. Big deal. . . They are two sides of the same coin.” I like very much that Justin is modelling openness and showing that there is no shame… Read more
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Why do vicars burn out? (Part 2)
This post about burn out follows on from yesterday’s post. The three dimensions of burnout are: feelings of cynicism and detachment from the job a sense of ineffectiveness lack of accomplishment The risk factors that contribute to burn out are: workload control reward community fairness values Yesterday I looked at the first three of these… Read more
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Why do vicars burn out? (Part 1)
First of all we need to define burnout, whilst it has a rather hazy definition in common parlance, amongst psychiatrists there are three distinct factors: The three key dimensions of this response are an overwhelming exhaustion, feelings of cynicism and detachment from the job, and a sense of ineffectiveness and lack of accomplishment. The risk… Read more
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Are Bishops Still the Pastors of the Clergy?
Most priests look to the bishop as their pastor. The bishop ordains and licenses clergy and these moments are profoundly meaningful. Each year most bishops ask their clergy to come to the Maundy Thursday service and renew their vows together, there is a sense of shared vocation and mutual respect. The clergy know that the… Read more
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I Desire Mercy, Not Masochism
In the Experiences of Ministry Project one of the indicators of clergy burnout was that it was more likely in those who sacrificed the most. Clergy reported how often they made sacrifices and how often those sacrifices were significant. The data can be seen below, if you zoom in… I was mulling this over while… Read more
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Do you manage to relax on your day off?
The Experiences in Ministry Project concluded that clergy are more likely to burn out if they have too many demands and nor enough resources. I have touched on this a bit in the post about overwork. However, the research also identified other indicators for burnout which are: – those who sacrificed the most, – felt… Read more
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Clergy Wellbeing 