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Letters from 15 to 21 March 2010

Like all letters to the editor everywhere, these letters express the opinions of the writers and not Anglicans Online. We publish letters that we think will be of interest to our readers, whether we agree with them or not. If you'd like to write a letter of your own, click here.

Hertford, Hereford, and Hampshire / Hoopoes hardly hardly*

I suspect Jane Austen probably never saw a hoopoe on the lawn. They are really not very common in England. The British Garden Birds website says:

Hoopoes breed in central and southern Europe and winter in southern Europe and Africa. Birds that arrive in Britain have overshot their breeding grounds, often because of south-easterly winds.

www.garden-birds.co.uk/birds/hoopoe.htm

Robert W. M. Greaves
All Saints Anglican Church, Jakarta
Jakarta, INDONESIA
robert.w.m.greaves@gmail.com
15 March 2010

Editors: Point taken, but see birdsofbritain.co.uk/bird-guide/hoopoe.asp, where 'In the past decade over 400 hoopoes have been observed in Norfolk'. Add note: 'Among favoured sites are golf-courses and vicarage lawns'.

Rectories: No!

I read your lament for rectories with bemusement. As a rector, let me share with you some experiences, some mine and some those of other clergy:

• cut my foot on a bit of linoleum lifting off the kitchen floor after weeks of asking the churchwardens to fix it
  
  
• living with loud and inadequate heating for weeks, in a Canadian winter, until a maintenance inspection was scheduled, to be told that we should all vacate the premises immediately for fear of carbon monoxide until a completely new furnace could be installed
  
  
• the simple reality of being unable to make any decisions about the repairs and upkeep of my home without the approval of a committee of eight persons
  
  
• the complete lack of privacy for one's family, as members of the parish, who pay the bills, assume they can access the building whenever they need. In one instance, a member whipped from the office (in the rectory) into the kitchen for a glass of water to come upon the rector's spouse in only a flimsy bathrobe; in another, the rector was home but the car was not, and a churchwarden used her key to unlock and enter the rectory to look for minutes from a meeting, when the rector came out of the shower wearing a towel.

Most problematic, the privilege of living in a rectory is deemed to be a portion of one's remuneration. Logical enough, from the standpoint of the lay folk who pay the bills. Yet it means that a cleric builds up no equity in the ownership of a home, which at least in much of the Western world represents a significant portion of the investments upon which one counts upon retirement. The remuneration level for most clergy is not such that setting aside enough for a down payment on a home upon retirement is an easy thing.

I moved to my current parish almost two years ago, one that had sold their rectory, and was able for the first time to purchase and live in my own home. I will NEVER go back to rectory living again.

Heather McCance
Church of St Andrew, Scarborough
Toronto, Ontario, CANADA
15 March 2010

Editors: Do have a look at http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/content.asp?id=90940

Rectories: Yes!

Thank you for your reflections on old rectories and for referencing the book, which I have just ordered. Although I don't have the sort of stately house which many English clergy used to occupy, I have the privilege of living in a rectory which one of my predecessors actually designed in the 1920's. Meant to look like a "black and white," timber and plaster English cottage, it complements our church, whose gable ends and tower are done in the same style. I have had visitors who, upon entering the house, say, "This looks exactly like what it was meant to be: an Anglican rectory."

A few years ago, when we were working with some architects on a church project, I suggested that the time might come when the house would be pulled down to make way for additional parking. They both said that it would be a great loss, since the rectory was an essential contributor to the charm of the whole church campus. Still, in this age of the "open floor plan", with kitchens fully open to living and dining spaces, I'm not sure that the house in which I love to live will be attractive to my successors!

The Reverend William Bippus
St. Paul's Church, Marinette, Wisconsin, USA
Marinette, Wisconsin, USA
15 March 2010

DreamTube

I was awakened from a dream earlier this week in which I was making a short video. The idea was fairly well formed, so at 5:30 a.m. I got out of bed and by 8 a.m. this simple video was uploading to YouTube. Enjoy!

youtube.com/watch?v=lxZiYY9G354

And thanks for all you continue to do for our church.

Frank Logue
King of Peace Episcopal Church
Kingsland, Georgia, USA
frank@kingofpeace.org
20 March 2010

*With apologies to Lerner and Lowe's 'The Rain in Spain', from My Fair Lady

Earlier letters

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