'A bit of you is always on duty': the vicars struggling with stress
The Church of England is looking at priests’ wellbeing as many feel the pressures of a changing role
On a bad week, the job of a parish priest is “like triage”, said Alan Bartlett. “What do I do first? What’s most urgent?”
Bartlett has just come to the end of a nine-year stint as vicar of three parishes in one of the most deprived areas of the country in north-east England. On a daily basis, he dealt with people on the frontline of austerity and social exclusion.
“The sense of responsibility – for the whole community, not just those coming to church – is enormous. There’s always the sense of being slightly on
