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Some twenty years ago, I read a book called “The Office and Work of a Priest” by Robert Martineau, the then Bishop of Blackburn (Mowbray 1972). In the course of a very thorough and useful discussion of the priestly ministry in the Christian church the author said that the priest is someone who speaks for the church and who also speaks to the church. This has always struck me as a well-balanced view. On the one hand the priest, along with deacon, bishop and laity, has the job of proclaiming the Gospel and interpreting it for contemporary life. As an officer of the Church of England he must be able to defend the liturgical practice of the organisation he serves and argue for the spiritual efficacy of the structured ministry of the Word and Sacraments in the Anglican tradition. In this way, amongst others, the priest speaks for the church.
What does it mean for the priest to speak to the church ? Bishop Martineau sees this rightly as a constructive activity. Priests must use their training, sense of purpose and personal insight to build up a clearer picture of the church’s mission and of better ways of fulfilling it. The implication is, I think, that the church’s ways of operating, its finances, its appointments, its leadership etc. are always up for review. When, therefore, mistakes are made, as they are bound to be, the church, the diocese, the deanery and the parish should learn by them. More importantly perhaps is the church’s willingness to learn and to grow in wisdom.
It is very clear, however, from the national and local press (eg. Herts on Sunday, 5 June) that it is not only priests who see it as their right to speak to the church. The Christian Church especially the national church stands accused of all kinds of confusion, contradiction, internal discord and political wrangling. It is worrying that so many external commentators regard the Anglican Church as having lost its way as it fumbles around to find compromises between its different factions.
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