A bishop, who fears vicars are working so many hours that they are risking burnout, has called for a national debate on what parishioners can realistically expect from their clergy.
The Bishop of Hulme, the Right Rev Stephen Lowe, said in his diocesan magazine that many vicars work 70 to 80 hours a week and routinely put their ministry ahead of their families or their own health.
Many believe that there should be no limit to their availability and should never take holidays because they are unhappy about leaving the pastoral care of their flock in the hands of a stranger.
But over the next few years the nature of clergy employment will change radically as vicars lose their ancient right to freehold office, facing retirement at 65, and their working conditions more closely follow those of ordinary workers.
The bishop urged other bishops and archbishops to begin the debate by looking at the possibility of a 48-hour week, the maximum under the European law, which he said would at least be a “start in slowing down”.