WEDNESDAY'S NEWS

Legislation for Clergy Severance Fund
(from Elaine Whitehouse, Communications Dept, RCB)

The General Synod has reported for final consideration on Thursday a bill establishing a severance fund to provide for clergy whose ministry has suffered pastoral breakdown. Bill No 16 completes a legislative process begun in 2001 with the approval of the Statute Chapter VI, which provided for the establishment of Provincial Mediation Panels and the other structures necessary to the provision of a conflict resolution process for clergy.

Under the terms of the 2001 Statute a case of pastoral breakdown can be referred to a mediation team and if resolution is not achieved the mediators can recommend permanent cessation from stipendiary ministry. In cases where cessation is recommended, provided that the minister agrees with the recommendation, the Representative Church Body (RCB) is authorised to make a financial settlement in accordance with regulations put in place last year.

This year’s bill seeks to establish a fund to provide for such payments, with each diocese contributing a levy based on a percentage of Minimum Approved Stipend (MAS) multiplied by the number of cures in the diocese. The RCB will be authorised to set the level of contribution and, whilst it will not become clear how large a fund will be needed until severance provisions are in use, it is planned initially to set a level of 1% of MAS annually.

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Proposing Bill No 16, Mr Trevor Morrow of the Diocese of Limerick said the proposed levy was similar to that already existing in relation to the financing of the episcopacy and the method was tried and tested. The legislation provided for automatic review after five years and the levy would only be able to be increased by 25% year on year. The cost for each parish within a diocese would be £210 or euro294 per cure per annum based on current levels of MAS.

The Most Rev John Neill, Archbishop of Dublin, seconded the bill, saying that the legislation was part of the Church’s pastoral care for its clergy, providing support for them in the “damaging” situation of a breakdown between incumbent and parishioners. He emphasised that the severance fund would only come into play when mediators had recommended permanent cessation from ministry. The Bill in effect asked Church members to “carry each other’s burdens”.

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