- 77 -
tests are tests of ability to pay rather than of benefit received it
was felt that a parish temporarily without an incumbent should not
automatically be allowed a reduction in share liability - parochial
resources would be the same even if receipt of benefit was not. There
were also some reservations as to how finely this factor distinguished
between parishes and as to practical problems which might arise in
allocating fractions of a clergyman ministering in more than one
parish.
4.2.2.3
Number of baptisms during the preceding
year
√ √ √ √
4.2.2.4
Number of weddings during the preceding
year √ √ √ √
4.2.2.5
Number of funerals during the preceding
year
√ √ √ √
4.2.2.6
Number of confirmations during the
preceding year
√ √ √ √
4.2.2.7
Number on electoral roll at year end
√ √ √ √
These were felt to be sufficiently akin to be classed as a group,
but sufficiently different to merit individual entries. There were
particular doubts about counting funerals - they being felt to be an
indication of waning rather than waxing parish resourcefulness - but
also to be an indication of parish 'appeal' ("...the fact that they
did go [to the parish church] for a funeral and not to the crematorium
direct...seems to me to indicate that that Church has created an
image which has caught this person"). Baptisms and weddings raised
doubts about costs - it being opined that the statutory fees received
for these services might be less than the expenses of provision;
