MORE than one third of the incumbents questioned for a survey published this week exhibited signs of clinical depression. The authors of the survey — a part of the Church of England’s ongoing Living Ministry study — say that the matter deserves “urgent attention”.
One third of the respondents to the survey (32 per cent) said that they didn’t trust the diocese to take care of their well-being; and nearly one fifth (18 per cent) didn’t imagine that their bishops had their best interests at heart.
The fall in church attendance because the pandemic (News, 10 November 2023) and the cost-of-living crisis are amongst aspects influencing the clergy’s well-being, the authors of the survey suggest. And almost half the stipendiary-clergy respondents agreed that their financial situation was causing them anxiety.
The long-term study, launched in 2017 (News, 24 February 2017), is following 4 cohorts over ten years: clergy ordained in 2006, 2011, and 2015, and those that entered training in 2016. Its aim is to assemble evidence about “what enables ministers to flourish in ministry”.
The latest report — Holding Things Together: Church of England clergy in changing times — is the fourth “wave” of the study, and draws on a survey conducted in March 2023, to which 521 clergy responded. Just over half (56 per cent) were incumbents, which reflects the progress of the cohort since 2017.
The previous survey, Wave 3, had been carried out in March 2021 throughout the third national lockdown (News, 7 January 2022). The recent report directly compares the responses of the 358 individuals who accomplished each Wave 3 and Wave 4 surveys. While they reported a rise in mental, physical, and vocational well-being, they reported a decrease in each relational and financial well-being — the latter dropping by seven per cent.
It reports that stipendiary incumbents “fared particularly badly, seeing no recovery in any aspect of well-being; low rates of mental health; and widespread financial difficulties associated partly with the cost-of-living crisis”. Previous analyses have suggested that the move into incumbency is especially difficult for clerical well-being (News, 19 October 2018).
More than one in five incumbents (21 per cent) had scores for mental well-being scores which indicated probable clinical depression. For an additional 15 per cent, the scores indicated possible or mild depression.
More than two-thirds (69 per cent) of the stipendiary respondents reported requiring assistance throughout the cost-of-living crisis, and 42 per cent agreed that their financial situation caused them anxiety. Clergy under the age of 40 were significantly more likely than older respondents to report finding things difficult. They also reported higher levels of symptoms related to burnout.
Among the broader challenges highlighted by the authors are straitened diocesan funds, with some having to “rethink their pastoral organisation, often leading to parish priests finding themselves directly accountable for greater numbers of churches and parishes; taking over ‘oversight’ roles to enable ministry to proceed through others; or deeply anxious about job security”. One respondent wrote: “Since becoming an incumbent of seven rural parishes, I’ve had the worst ill-health of my adult life.”
In 2022, the Bishop of St Edmundsbury & Ipswich, the Rt Revd Martin Seeley, warned that the Church was in serious danger of making “not possible jobs” (News, 11 February 2022)
The authors conclude that many stipendiary incumbents and younger clergy are “striving to maintain getting in turbulent circumstances and without adequate recovery from the strains of the Covid-19 pandemic. As they hold together their very own lives, clergy seek also to carry together their congregations, often within the face of declined attendance and participation, increased financial pressures, and the necessity for each change and stability.”
Well-being
ON AVERAGE, respondents scored 48.4 on the mental-well-being scale (compared with a national pre-pandemic average of 51.39). High well-being is recorded in a rating of 60 or above. ONS figures for 2022 suggest that about 16 per cent of adults had moderate to severe depressive symptoms. Incumbents didn’t follow a trend seen in other ministry groups, who reported an improvement in mental health since Wave 3.
All respondents reported higher levels of isolation than at any point because the research began in 2017. The authors write: “Many people spoke in regards to the isolation of ministry. Key challenges included: moving across the country taking them removed from family and friends; difficulties in balancing family relationships; and differing day without work from other people.”
Respondents’ rating of the demands made on them physically, emotionally, and spiritually were higher than at any earlier stage of the study. The authors observe that “much lower mental well-being is related to low levels of emotional and spiritual demands, suggesting that mental well-being may suffer when clergy are less engaged emotionally and spiritually, or vice versa.” Seventy per cent of the respondents reported taking no less than one full time without work every week.
The survey included questions from the “Maslach Burnout Inventory” on “depersonalisation” and “emotional exhaustion”. Almost one third of the males reported high levels of the previous, in addition to 46 per cent of the under-40s. Emotional exhaustion was related to being younger, being female, having children, and being an incumbent. The authors suggest that more research is mandatory to research the prevalence of burnout among the many clergy.
Finances
THE percentage of the clergy who found it no less than “quite difficult” to administer financially has increased from eight per cent in Wave 1 to 14.8 per cent. More than two-thirds (69 per cent) of the stipendiary clergy said that they needed financial assistance in relation to the cost-of-living crisis. The diocese was probably the most common source, followed by the Clergy Support Trust. Anxiety about funds was highest amongst those that were disabled (42 per cent). They made up nine per cent of the cohort.
About one quarter of the clergy said that they were able to avoid wasting often, and there was no difference here between the stipendiary and non-stipendiary categories. But one third (34 per cent) of the stipendiary clergy said that they weren’t on course to having adequate provision in place for his or her retirement, compared with 11.7 per cent of self-supporting clergy. Almost 20 per cent expected to need assistance with housing. The report notes that “those with skilled parents were more prone to say that they weren’t managing well financially. It is feasible that this will be as a consequence of their expectations of how they must be managing.”
At home throughout the C of E?
SINCE the report on the well-being of global-majority-heritage (GMH) clergy (News, 21 October 2022), questions on the extent to which the clergy feel capable of be themselves and to trust the institution have been added. Most (80 per cent) of the respondents felt capable of be fully themselves. More than one third of the GMH clergy (just three per cent of the cohort) felt that they might not be themselves, as compared with 11 per cent of the white clergy. The authors noted that “social class and health status were also found to have isolating effects.”.
Just over half the respondents (55 per cent) agreed that they trusted their senior clergy (24 per cent disagreed); and 59 per cent felt that their bishops had their best interests at heart (18 per cent disagreed). When it got here to the diocese, 32 per cent said that they didn’t trust the diocese to take care of their well-being, and 22 per cent didn’t agree that the diocese was a secure place for them to be themselves. Nearly one third (31 per cent) thought that adequate pastoral support was not offered for people like them. Thirty-six per cent said that they might not access diocesan support at a time of vulnerability.
Just 38 per cent felt that they spent adequate time in prayer.
Change management
THE latest survey included questions designed to explore the clergy’s relationship to vary management. The authors report that respondents “tended to point out more awareness and desire for change than knowledge of tips on how to bring change about and skill to implement it, suggesting that interventions should focus more on supporting clergy to act than on promoting awareness of the necessity for motion”.
They acknowledge that it was impossible to attribute causality in analysing the connection between responses on change-management and respondents’ well-being scores, but suggest that “awareness of the necessity for change, a desire for it to occur, and even knowledge of tips on how to bring it about, don’t contribute to well-being unless additionally it is possible to implement and sustain the change, and will, after all, result in frustration if it isn’t.”
Questions also explored “the qualities of the change-maker themselves: how our ‘being’ affects our management of change”. The authors reported high levels of identification with each of the 4 positive capacities, equivalent to “curious and intentional responding”. When it got here to “external practices”, one defined as “amplifying disturbance” or “naming reality” had the best level of disagreement (i.e. not identifying with). The authors comment: “In most change environments, creating dissonance is a crucial a part of moving and changing, however the context of ministry may make this difficult to attain.”
The “leader-centric” external practice, defined as an “egocentric behaviour . . . being overly controlling, wanting to be seen because the ‘mover and shaker’”, attracted a comparatively high level of identification, prompting the commentary: “The context of ministry, perhaps specifically coping with volunteers and the position of an incumbent being seen as one in all authority, may draw people into what’s framed on this model as an unhelpful practice.”
Social class
THE latest survey also explored respondents’ social class. The clergy surveyed had almost double the share of fogeys in “skilled” occupations than the national baseline (66 v. 37 per cent), and about half the share in “working-class” occupations (21 v. 39 per cent). The 21 per cent is way higher than the 11 per cent indicated in one other 2015 study of the clergy (Daniel Laurison and Sam Friedman). They were almost thrice likelier than the broader UK population to have attended an independent school (22.3 v. 7.5 per cent).
Those who had attended a state school were more prone to say that they didn’t feel at home within the parish compared with those that had attended an independent school (14 v. six per cent).
An extra qualitative study is under method to further explore the problems raised within the survey.
