CURATE LEAVES CHURCH

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 932, 27 March 1930, Page 14

CURATE LEAVES CHURCH

TO BECOME JOURNALIST “ECONOMIC REASONS” Journalism calls to men of all ten. peraments. Perhaps the strangest d its recent recruits is the Rev. Abn tin Lee, curate of Kew, England, **h a resigned the cloth to join the stall ct the “Daily Mail.” London, for which newspaper he had previously written many articles. In the following article Mr. Lee gives his reasons for leaving the pulpit. The people of Kew have taken my articles on the suburbs good-naturedb, secure in the knowledge that whereia curates come and go, suburbs go cn for ever. Why Am I Leaving Them? First and foremost, it is an economic question. I have never inherited a penny from anyone, though once I had reasonable expectations. As my father was a country clergv. man, struggling with dilapidation and tithe rent charge and all tie other things designed to keep a pan ii priest in touch with the world and prevent him from losing himself in nebulous spiritualities, he died jbs; solvent, leaving me to be the sole sup. port of the family. Keeping Up Appearances After a year as a curate I can only say that I am amazed there are still so many people who, with the expend of school and university education be* hind them, are content to embrace a life which guarantees a maximum in* come of £5 to £G a week for perhaps 20 years. On this sum a curate is expected td keep up appearances, that spectre at every middle-class feast, and whs heartache this means for a married curate in an expensive neighbourhood I leave to the imagination.. When I say that out of my salary o| £5 a week (plus a “Whitsuntide offer* ing”) I have to pay a compulsory pensions contribution, rent, rates, and n* come-tax, and buy food and clothe* for three, it will be seen that there is little left for holidays or any other purpose. Curates are not paid anything ft* the weddings and funerals they take, the fees being paid direct to the vicar, Work Not Valuable That is the financial side. Pecpte say that it doesn’t matter as long as you have a Vocation and are doing - Great Work. I suppose if I were fired with enthusiasm I should not uo:ke that my trousers’ seat was gettir? shiny or have an occasional longing for a Square Meal. But I do not think any enthusiasm would blind ine to the fact that people dependent on me were not dressed a* well or even as warmly as they niigh be, and no calling. I think, would cuse my being oblivious of it. IC® B wou] be an attenuated charity t 0 preach if it did not begin in my o* o home. So economic pressure forces 0 38 to review dispassionately the utility tthe work one is doing. And 1 to** B came to the conclusion that the b”- - of the things I am doing as a cura--have little value. Getting People to Heaven I If I may put myself out of the picture for a moment, it seems to nj ; * mistake to put young, vigorous, istic, perhaps intelligent, young ates into positions where they *• confronted by convention, prejudice and a thousand and one duties are not only irksome but which no relation whatever to the sptfti* nature of their high calling. e “Pottering round a parish/* as I called it, has deadened the soul= ; more curates than it has brought to parishioners. After all, the main job of a man is to get people to Heaven, ' by kindly taking their arm, or, / necessary, administering a t kick. I think I shall be able to do t* j through journalism.