Retired Anglican Bishop, Colin Fletcher, formerly Bishop of Dorchester in Oxford Diocese, and now Head of the Church of England’s Retired Clergy Association (pictured above) has written an engaging and at times personal article for the Church Times about his own retirement from full time ministry and ways in which the church and its retired clergy can better serve one another.
Most interesting is his recognition of the growing dependence of the church on retired clergy: “Looking over the country as a whole, I am conscious that the Church of England is more and more dependent on the ministry of retired priests to maintain the regular pattern of Sunday and weekday services in our parishes”, in the face of “year-on-year reductions in the number of stipendiary priests, the lengthening of vacancies, and the increase in the need for cover for ill-health and stress-related conditions”.
He reminds us that 100 years ago, in August 1926, the then Archbishop Randall Davidson made an “impassioned plea in the House of Lords for the launching of a fund to enable clergy to have a pension in retirement”, which today we know of as the Church of England Pensions Board. The one big change that this brought about was a change in attitude to retired clergy, which still holds today, namely that “it remains a principle that, when clergy reach retirement age, they should be allowed to retire without any pressure put on them to continue to serve in public ministry.”
This is of course right. Retirement is a time to re-find ourselves, at the end of a busy working life, and, if we so choose, to think forward to whatever the future might hold. For many it involves reconciling ourselves to mistakes we have made in the past, or actions that have cast a shadow over our later years, and where we can, to let them go.
And when you have had an active life and ministry, it is equally difficult to stop, and simply rest. And if we so choose, it is also a huge privilege, as a retired priest, to be connected to a parish, albeit for occasional duties, to work with one’s younger and more energised colleagues, and very occasionally to input something from one’s experience – good, bad and indifferent – which might help in some small way to embed the Kingdom of God and build the body of Christ.
My grandfather died at 64 and never reached retirement age. I thank God for so many positive things that today’s ‘mayores’ can embrace and enjoy, and can contribute to today’s church.
Read Bishop Fletcher’s article in the Church Times here.