by Rob White, Telegraph
‘Indefensible and unchristian’ pension cuts and a dearth of housing push retired clergy into penury
According to the Tenth Commandment, “You shall not covet anything which belongs to your neighbour”.
Yet for members of the clergy who spend their lives spreading the ten Christian virtues, it could become the hardest one to extol.
For many have spent decades dedicated to their faith, shunning the expensive cars, foreign holidays and large country homes enjoyed by many of the retired parishioners they serve – only to see their pensions brutally slashed by the Church of England in 2011.
The cut, to a level branded “indefensible, ungodly, and unchristian” by some within the faith, meant a 25pc reduction they were powerless to stop.
Combined with a housing crisis that already awaits many in retirement, there’s now a growing sense they’re being pushed into old-age poverty by the institution they’ve given their lives to.