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Show One minister, two | }| | | parishes- £1,000 and car By our Glasgow The Church Correspondent of Scotland plan to overcome ministers islands in and the the shortage of | Highlands to make a more attractive remote areas. | has a_ the and ministry calling in the The scheme is to make one minister do the work of two, and to pay kim} more and to. give him financial assistance to buy a car to enable him to get round his more extended parish. —~ More ministers: in the remote areas} will have £1,000 a year with a car with its running expenses paid for. The Rev. Graham Warner, secretary of the church administration department of the Chureh of Scotland, said that in some places parishes had/ already been linked and ministers were getting a stipend above the minimum of £800 a year. Ze “We will be getting down very soon to dealing with individual presbyteries| such as Kintyre and Islay where further | clathrate unions will be proposed and we feel that j nowadays there are parishes in which tall there is not enough work for one minister. Of course, where we have a 'minister doing two parihses as the result | of a linking he will get a better stipend for doing it. ‘Piaces like Glencoe and Duror have been linked satisfactorily. “We have already made provision to help these ministers with transport in a substantial way. We have purchased small vans, but we will help to get a minister a car if he prefers it. A minister on the minimum ent of £800 a year twill get an extra #150 a year on the linking of his parish with another. When you consider that on top of this a w minister has maintained, a all free manse his taxes ided, and paid, then has it. and his| it ae be. said| han| said that something had af to be done to overcome the shortage | of manpower at the ministry. With motor transport available, one man could easily do the work of two. parishes just as effectively as two men did it in the old days. Also there was | a steadily declining population. He believed that unions between parishes. were working out quite favourably. Mr Warner said that the “ ambition ” of the Rev. Angus MacVicar, minister emeritus of Southend (Kintyre) and. clerk to the Synod of Argyll who said. that he would nevér be satisfied until he saw every minister of the Highlands and islands with £1,000 a year and a car was already being realised. Mr MacVicar had said that the situa- tion on the islands was “now little short of disastrous.” He said that the island of Islay with a population of 4,000 and seven separate churches, had only one minister. There were only three ministers for Mull, Tiree had been without a minister for foru years and Colonsay and Jura had only one ny j 5 d ; , We must make the ministry tractive to young men if the church to improve its position. If we don’t watch ourselves, the Mormons will be vading the islands.” octet Se The Manchester ne Guardian is wee 2345. Advertising lassified London: TERminus 701, . - Telephones : : Advertising: BL ee TERminus ae 7021. Printed and published by LAURENCE PRESTWICH SCOTT for THE MANCHESTER GUARDIAN & EVENING News, Lrp., at the Guardian Building, 3 Cross Street, Manchester 2, and at 192 Gray’s Inn Road, London W.uC. 1, Monday, April 23 eC | |
