From Religious Intelligence:
Under legislation expected to receive Parliamentary approval and Royal assent this summer, a national body will be given sweeping powers to recommend the closure or reorganisation of dioceses and the scrapping of suffragan or assistant bishop posts.
The legislation was initially drawn up three years ago, partly in response to criticism that the Church was becoming increasingly top-heavy, stifling grass-roots growth.
With many parts of the Church shedding staff — and the numbers of stipendiary clergy shrinking at a rate of about 100 a year — critics have long complained that dioceses and episcopal posts appear almost immune from such cuts.
This is primarily because the only people who can permit them are the bishops themselves — the ecclesiastical equivalent of turkeys voting for Christmas.
The newly-constituted Dioceses Commission will, however, be able to initiate reforms, though the final decision will be left in the hands of the General Synod.
“I’m a Bishop – it’s what I do!”
I have to say that most I have met in the CofE have a clarity of view that makes it clear why they are bishops. It would be good to see them back to being expositors of the faith rather than full time managers and there is no need for every diocese to duplicate exactly what its neighbor does. There are some very expensive civil servant types increasingly taking funds from other purposes.
I think it would be best if we left the job of actually running the dioceses to seasoned laity, and the bishops should stick to doing what they’re supposed to do: Be a Chief Pastor to their flock! Just how this would work in the UK is debatable, but I’d bet it wouldn’t be much different than here in the States.