Question

To ask the Member for South West Bedfordshire, representing the Church Commissioners, whether the Commissioners are taking steps to help ensure that ordained priests are not expected to officiate in parish churches of a different tradition in a way which (a) they and (b) the parishioners are not comfortable with.

Management of a diocese and the ordering of parishes is a matter for the diocesan bishop and their senior staff, not the National Church Institutions.

Clergy, retired clergy and lay ministers regularly offer cover across dioceses during vacancies, an incumbent’s illness, or for other pastoral reasons. The diocesan bishop and local archdeacon are responsible for overseeing this process.