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Common Tenure
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Why is the Church overturning a system that has stood it in good stead throughout the centuries?
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Won't clergy appointed to Common Tenure pending pastoral reorganisation be just as insecure as those currently without freehold?
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What will be the long-term effect on relationships between bishop and clergy?
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Is Common Tenure flexible enough to cope with a rapidly changing scene?
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How can the diversity of ministry (dual role appointments, sector ministers etc) all be accommodated within one system?
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How will we run a mixed economy of those retaining freehold and those on Common Tenure? How to manage this well?
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1. Why is the Church overturning a system that has stood it in good stead throughout the centuries?
There are many signs across the dioceses that the system is no longer ‘standing in good stead’. The freehold has itself changed greatly over the last 100 years, and there are around 3,500 stipendiary clergy who do not have it. Tenure of freehold office can now end through compulsory retirement, ill health, after a breakdown of pastoral relationships, or through the effect of pastoral reorganisation as well as for disciplinary reasons.
Under these proposals, clergy will have their rights and responsibilities improved and clarified, so that they end up with terms of service that are in accord with current best practice. They will have the right to appeal to Employment Tribunals against unfair dismissal as a last resort. The capability procedure will be a fair and effective way of addressing the problem of those few clergy who are failing to perform to a minimum acceptable standard.
No clergy currently in freehold appointments will have the freehold taken away from them.
2. Won’t clergy appointed to Common Tenure pending pastoral reorganisation be just as insecure as those currently without freehold?
No. The statement of particulars will set out the position clearly, and in the case of pastoral reorganisation these clergy would be eligible for compensation.
3. What will be the long- term effect on relationships between bishop and clergy?
The concept of the cure of souls is enormously valuable. We want to ensure that the traditional relationships between priest and people and priest and bishop are preserved.
4. Is Common Tenure flexible enough to cope with a rapidly changing scene?
Yes. Where appropriate, Common Tenure can be qualified (eg training posts, and posts held subject to pastoral reorganisation).
Every parish is different, and the forms that ministry takes are different, but the basic questions that need to be answered about terms and conditions of service or what a parish needs to continue to develop are often very similar.
This is certainly going to be a challenge. Those clergy with the freehold who opt not to move to Common Tenure will retain the rights currently applicable to them until such time as they leave that post. This will mean that elements of Church legislation and procedures, including those relating to housing, will remain operative for many years to come. No doubt each diocese will hold a list of those to whom this existing mode of operation applies and much of the good practice, which will be clarified by the terms of service regulations, can, of course, be applied to all clergy regardless of their status.
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