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Clergy and Lay Ministers

In the Diocese there are approximately 200 priests who hold the Bishop's licence.

In the Diocese there are approximately 200 priests who hold the Bishop’s licence, and around another 100 retired priests who have permission to help out in parishes.  In addtion to this there are lay ministers who help minister in our 350 parishes.

Clergy

Clergy can do a variety of jobs. Most clergy are licensed by the Bishop to serve in a parish. Many are in charge of a parish, or more often, a group of parishes. They usually have the title Rector, Vicar or Priest in Charge.  These clergy are responsible for the pastoral care of those who live in their parishes and with their church council (called the Parochial Church Councils or PCC) are responsible for arranging church services and the upkeep of the church buildings and churchyard.  Other clergy are licensed as ‘Associate’ or ‘Assistant’ priests.  These clergy help out in parishes. 

The final group of clergy licensed to parishes are those that have just been ordained.  These are called curates and they serve in parishes  for about three years while they ‘learn the ropes’. They are first ordained deacon by a bishop.  Usually after a year the bishop ordains them as a priest, although a few do choose to stay as deacons.  A deacon is a serving role and focuses on pastoral work.  They are not able to lead communion services. 

When clergy retire some of them wish to carry on helping out in parishes.  If they just work in one parish, or one group of parisehs, they are often licensed by the bishop as assistant priests.  If they prefer to to work in a variety of parishes the bishop can give them Permission to Officiate (PTO)

A few clergy don’t work in parishes at all, but instead work in prisons, schools, hospitals or other such institutions.  These are called chaplains. 

Lay Ministers

We welcome the ministry of lay people in the life of the Church. God calls all his people to serve and the diocese recognises and rejoices that for many people this will be in some form of lay ministry. Our vision is to train and form aspirant lay ministers in ways which enable them to flourish in ministry and to use their God given talents to share the good news of Jesus Christ. 

Levels of lay ministry with the Diocese of Peterborough are differentiated on the basis of role, level of representation and leadership, sphere of ministry (parish, benefice, national) and nature of training. They consist of Licenced Lay Ministers known as Readers, who are trained to national standards, Authorised Lay Ministers who are trained to diocesan standards and locally recognised lay ministers.