By Corina Milic
Overworked clergy do not have to unionize to relieve the stress and pressure of their jobs, say some Centretown pastors and priests.
Some United Church ministers recently suggested joining a trade union to improve their working conditions and low salaries.
Other church leaders agree the job is difficult, but don’t feel they need a union.
“There’s a lot more work than you imagine – most people think you work Sunday and get six days off,” says Father Lindsay Harrison of St. Patrick’s Basilica on Nepean Street.
“Imagine a string of funerals, then a few hospital emergencies in a row. It’s emotionally draining,” says Rev. Barton Beglo, pastor of St. Peter’s Lutheran Church on Sparks Street. But Beglo says ministers can be supported without forming a union.
Lutherans have encouraged the establishment of Mutual Ministry committees in each church for the past 20 years. They are made up of clergy and members of the congregation.
Committees discuss and resolve conflicts; are an outlet for stressful pastors; and provide early warning of misunderstanding in the congregation, says the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada.
This evaluates and strengthens the leader and congregation, the church says.
Christopher Ernest is the senior pastor at German Evangelical Martin Luther Church on Preston Street. He recently immigrated to Canada from Germany.
In Germany there is something similar to a union for ministers, says Ernest. It is an old tradition connecting the whole denomination.
“The denomination says how much you earn, whether you have a small congregation or a large one,” he says.
That’s a possible alternate solution for United Church ministers complaining about their low pay.
“Today there is a greater expectation of people to do more,” says Beglo. “Accessibility is almost instantaneous.”
Beglo says modern clergy with cellular phones or e-mail can be reached at any time by their parishioners.
“We all need a little space,” he says. “It takes pressure off and we can serve better.”
Many ministers say their serving role makes them critics of a clergy union.
“It’s counter to the nature of the job,” says William Fairlie, vicar at Christ Church Cathedral on Sparks Street and Bronson Avenue. “If you have to go outside your own structure the church has lost you, or you have lost the church.”
This echoes the United Church ministers’ complaint they have no peer support.
However, Earnest plans on dealing with his congregation and staff’s disconnect differently. He intends to engage with nearby Lutheran churches.
The church denominations are not against trade unions in general.
But, Harrison says, the ministry is a vocation “like motherhood and fatherhood.”
“The people you serve are the best part of the job,” says Fairlie. “Unpredictability can be a problem, but it’s what makes it interesting.”