Archbishop warns of huge pressures on children

I read this article and ended up writing to the Church Times. Here's the letter and you'll see why.

I was pleased to see in the press this week the Archbishop of Canterbury making helpful and thought-provoking statements, drawing on his work in Lost Icons, about childhood and family life in our culture. Particularly interesting was what he said here: "The pincer movement of the commercialisation of childhood and fragmentation of
the family is now closing ... We are talking about ingrained unhappiness among large numbers of children. There are high levels of clinical depression,"

I was doubly interested because on the same day that I was reading what he'd said, I heard from a colleague of a conversation with a bishop which implied that the House of Bishops had a normal expectation of a 60 hour week from clergy. If this is the case, then I think that the bishops should also be considering the effect of this expectation on the family life of clergy and the emotional health both of the clergy, their families and on the ability of clergy to sustain effective ministry in the longer term. I am aware of the pressures on clergy time but a tacit or even explicit expectation of those kinds of
hours would surely be further feeding the negative trends Dr Williams identifies at work in our culture. Such hours tend to work towards the fragmentation of the family and are contrary therefore the the ordination vow to fashion ones family in the way of Christ. Can we proclaim good news when exemplifying bad news?

I'd be interested in what the Bishops and others have to say

Probably, if it gets printed, I'd be shot down in flames, but maybe not ...
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