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made of how the necessary background could be uncovered it was found that this is an area with a remarkable paucity of published documen- tation - ("tackling a problem in which the lines of approach are inchoate" (C9) ), and finally resort had to be made to extensive interviews.
These, whilst willingly granted by all those approached, had initially to be largely non-directive, the interviewees being invited to air their feelings on the general theme. They proved very arduous in terms of time consumed for information yielded, and eventually were curtailed and the field of study narrowed. The data then available was supple- mented by two questionnaires - one to other diocesan secretaries and one to a selected list of parish treasurers. It follows that much of this study will suffer from a paucity of source material and the effect of this is to be regretted, but it is hoped that the reader will forbear to be too critical of these inadequacies, and perhaps even be inspired to venture personally into some of the avenues of enquiry which have been opened up. The convention has been adopted throughout this study of spelling the word Church with a majuscule when referring to the organisation, and with a minuscule - church - when to the building in which worship takes place. It is normal in a dissertation of this sort to acknowledge assistance received, a convention which would happily be followed here but for the large number of names it would require - a full list would probably run into three figures. One name must certainly be recorded - David Hennessey the Diocesan Secretary - but thereafter come gradations of help between which it would be invidious to try to distinguish. Several sources have been specifically identified in the text or the bibliography, and many more will find their ideas reflected in the gist of some of the paragraphs (much of the text is eclectic plagiarism). |
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