Alarm after Synod hears of dramatic fall in the number of ordinands
by Madeleine Davies, Church Times;
FEARS that long-term clergy posts will not be available may lie behind the low numbers of ordinands coming through the discernment process, the General Synod heard on Monday.
Numbers recommended for ordination have fallen in recent years, from 591 in 2020 — the highest for 13 years — to 510 in 2021 and 378 in 2022 (News, 27 January).
In a written answer provided to the Synod, it was confirmed that, by the end of last month, 239 candidates had been recommended to begin training, while 156 candidates had yet to complete their Stage 2 panel. It was also confirmed that a much higher than usual number of recommended candidates had chosen to defer the start of their training. Both the Covid-19 pandemic and the implementation of a new discernment framework have been cited as factors.
Introducing the Archbishops’ Council budget on Monday, the chair of its finance committee, John Spence, said that he “deeply” regretted that in 2024 less would be spent on Vote 1 (training for ministry) than in 2023. Between 2019 and 2021, there were 1375 people going through ordination training but next year it would be between 1000 and 1100.
“We are hearing reports of a lack of confidence among candidates that there will be long-terms posts for them, and among dioceses about their ability to fund those long-term posts,” he said. There was a need for “a growing number of ordinands to refresh, renew, rejuvenate the priesthood, which is so critical to us”.
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