eChurch Blog

Church of England considers cutting pension benefits for clergy after equities bet – The Church of England is considering cutting the rate at which members of its current pension scheme for clergy accrues benefits, it was reported today.

The Church of England was accused today of squandering its clergy pensions through reckless betting on the stock market. Its deepening crisis over how to pay the pensions for retired vicars is ‘largely self-inflicted’, a leading analyst said.

Church not in crisis, insists Archbishop (OK, not strictly C of E but still Anglican)

Young Anglican vicars are facing the prospect of a bleaker retirement after the Church of England’s pension scheme succumbed to the “cult of equity” and sank 100 per cent of its investments into stocks towards the end of the 1990s bull market.

Already married Anglican deacons and priests seeking ordination to the priesthood in the Catholic Church will be considered.

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor, the retired Archbishop of Westminster, has confirmed that an invitation to Anglican clerics to enter the Catholic Church, similar to the proposal unveiled by the Vatican in October, had been considered as early as the 1990s.

I could carry on as there is plenty of dismal news for the Church of England today as usual, but all is not lost, here is a Church of England fightback headline:-

Church of England to encourage tree planting to combat climate change – The Church of England is to encourage tree planting and ”eco-twinning” with the developing world as part of efforts to combat climate change.

Phew, that’s alright then.

Is is me, or does it seem that the Church of England hierarchy are more interested in offering a type of salvation hope through ecological initiatives, rather than through the salvation work of Jesus Christ?  The church should exist to spread the ‘Good News’ not shrubbery.

I wonder why they are in difficulties?

To be fair to the Church of England, I have just spotted a response to today’s headlines:-

An article in today’s Financial Times, headed ‘Vicars’ pensions under threat as church is seduced by equities cult’, is misconceived and fails to take adequate account of the scheme’s relative age compared to other schemes, says Dr Jonathan Spencer, Chairman of the Church of England Pensions Board:

Still, it makes me wonder how it all became about economics and environmentalism, this all seems a far cry from the work of Jesus.