7 - The Clergy: Priests and Deacons

Summary

This chapter traces the development of clerical ministry in the Church in Wales since disestablishment in 1920. Ordained ministry has undergone profound changes across the century with many landmarks in relation to all aspects of it, from training through ordination to functions, deployment and pay and conditions of service. These include the ordination of women as priests and the introduction of terms of service (both driven in large measure by developments in secular society). There have also been key changes with regard to the training of clergy and the demise of classical residential theological formation, as well as provision for the personal and professional development of clerics as well as in the area of clerical discipline. Today the church faces a dramatic decline in the number of vocations to ordained ministry, responding in part with the evolution of the parish system into ministry areas, and with the advent of non-stipendiary ordained ministry. Overall, whilst the Church in Wales, in its structures, discipline and organisation, is radically different from the church in 1920, it is today more inclusive and more willing to experiment in its ever-evolving approaches to ordained ministry.