The Church in Wales is struggling to recruit new priests, with nearly one in three of clergy expected to go in the next five years.
A total of 166 clergy are due to retire within the half-decade, leaving the Anglican church with the challenge of finding a new generation of leaders at a time of shrinking congregations.
Next week the church will stage a “ministry and calling Sunday” to urge people to consider ordination. It will also encourage people to recommend a life in the church to others they feel have the skills to serve Welsh congregations.
As an RC I’m puzzled, baffled, confused by stories like this–and I have seen similar such stories involving other churches.
We are constantly propagandized by the liberal wing of our Church and by incessant, constant hounding in the media that we need only start ordaining married men to the priesthood, OR priestesses, OR partnered gays and Lesbians—and SHAZAM–no more priest shortage in the Catholic Church.
So whence comes the shortage of clergy in a number of other churches????
Deaconjohn, its guaranteed that if you turn to liberal teaching as the Church in Wales has done, then it won’t matter whether your clergy are married, celibate or something else – you will fail.
Mind you, the liberals would love your comment – they would like to see this as anything else but an issue of orthodoxy. But that is what it is – when enough of your leaders don’t really believe that the scriptures are real and objective truth, your denomination is going to wither away.
same trends in England…..fewer and fewer going to hear revisionist musings…..funds being depleted for fruitless revisionist ‘ministry’ in which the great British public has little interest and have voted with their feet…. but HTB seems to be able to attract lots of young Brits…..could it be the revisionist teaching which attracts so few….in Wales, England, Scotland, Ireland….the US??