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Vocation for Life
One of the important ways to stay fit and well, and to maintain healthy marriage and family relationships is by taking adequate time off for rest and recreation. It is also a good way of modeling a responsible lifestyle to those whom we serve in the parishes. Sometimes confusion arises between the vocation to serve God in a particular way i.e. through the Church’s ministry and allowing the whole of life to become absorbed by that one thing. Many clergy have a vocation to marriage and to parent- hood, and these are no less important than the vocation to ministry. Those who are not married have a vocation to remain part of the wider family of their friends. We all, as part of God’s Creation, have a responsibility to take care of ourselves as well, and that is not furthered when we allow ourselves to become the victims of obsessional or otherwise destructive patterns of work. It is particularly easy to drift into these when living over the shop, as all parochial clergy do.
Working within Safe Boundaries
There is now substantial scientific evidence to show that people who work too much greatly increase their chances of contracting coronary or other physical problems, or emotional and psychological ill-health. Furthermore, working excessively long hours dramatically reduces effectiveness and efficiency at work particularly where work is emotionally demanding in relation to other people’s needs.
To work for more than fifty hours a week on a regular basis can be dangerous. Indeed, it is healthier to aim for a working week that is nearer to forty-five hours. Fifty hours a week is the threshold at which many studies of workaholic behavior begin. For clergy, it is sometimes difficult to assess what is work and what is not. Generally speaking things that are done only or mainly in an official capacity as a clergyman are work. For example, private prayer and meditation does not constitute a work commitment, but attendance at a Harvest Social, or having the churchwardens round to the vicarage for a meal, does. <N>
Some clergy marriages fail and children feel resentful because there is little time in the working week for children or spouses. For some spouses it feels as though the clergy person has an adulterous relationship with the Church.
Clergy Holidays
It is important that parochial clergy on full time duty in the Diocese should take holidays of six weeks per year, which shall include a total of six Sundays. This should include a week after Christmas and Easter. The stipend will be paid in full during these holiday periods.
The Bishop also hopes that churchwardens will seek to ensure that this time off is taken and do all in their power to make holiday breaks possible. The payment of visiting clergy during clergy holidays is the responsibility of the PCC.
Those clergy who are in part-time appointments, Ordained Non-Stipendiary clergy and those who work on a House for Duty basis should also ensure that they have six weeks during the year when they are free of clerical duties. They also need six Sundays in the year when they can attend to their own spiritual needs without the requirement to lead others
Regular Time Off
All clergy should take at least one day off each week which should be, as far as possible, a fixed day so that parishioners know about it, and it should be extended to include the evening before. That follows the biblical pattern of the Sabbath. Often it is necessary to work very long days. If this is done a great deal it will be essential to ensure proper time is spent with the family.
As with most other members of the community, clergy should also take bank holidays (or a day in lieu) as an additional holiday.
Financial Constraints
If financial hardship is given as a reason for not taking an annual holiday, their Archdeacon should be advised; he may have limited funds at his disposal to assist and he may have information about places where holidays can sometimes be taken at concessionary rates. There is also limited information about this in the “Handbook of Resources for Clergy and Clergy Families” published by the Pastoral Care and Counselling service.
It is fully recognised that most clergy will not, for financial reasons, be able to take six week’s holiday away. There may also be a spouse’s holiday entitlement to take into consideration, and the fact that neither the clergy nor their families may wish to take all their time off away from home. After all, the Clergy House is first and foremost the home of the whole clergy family. However, all clergy and their families need to take a minimum of two weeks a year away from the parish on a proper holiday.
The Clergy House - Primarily a Home
It is important also to keep a careful eye on the frequency of meetings held at the clergy house and the degree of disruption that this causes to the rest of the family (particularly children) so that they do not feel that they are marginalised in their own home environment. They should not be constantly banished to their bedrooms because the parish has taken over the rest of the house!
In order to protect time off and to facilitate conversations with family and friends without getting embroiled in parish matters on days off or at holiday time spent at home, it is strongly recommended that an ex-directory family telephone be installed in addition to the parish line. This also simplifies payment for private telephone calls. The entire parish bill can then be paid directly by the PCC.
The use of an answer-phone on the parish line is also recommended, not only when there is nobody at home, but also when there should be nobody available to take parish calls. An alternative to an answerphone is the BT call-minder service.
Sickness Leave
When you are ill and need to take time off, it is important to do so, and not simply to soldier on. If you are unwell and need time off, you will get better much more quickly if you take time off. Furthermore, you will not work well when you are sick.
If you are ill for up to a week, you can self-certificate your time off. A self-certificate form can be obtained from the Church Commissioners’ website, www.cofe.anglican.org/info/clergypay. If you are off work for a longer time, you need doctor’s certificates. All certificates should be sent to Lynn Durbin at the Diocesan Office without delay. She can also provide any other information, which you may need in connection with sick leave. If you are signed off by your doctor, you cannot claim statutory sick pay or Incapacity Benefit for a day in which you do any work and it important that you do not drift in and out of work, but have continuous sick leave.
If you are an incumbent and need cover for services during a period of sick leave, it is the responsibility of churchwardens to make the necessary arrangements. In the case of curates, arrangements will normally be made by their incumbent.
If you have been on long-term sick leave, a package for your gradual return to work will normally be offered in conjunction with one of the Advisers in Pastoral Care and Counselling.
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