Published by If your calling is to go into the Priesthood in whatever denomination (We have to be fair to all when we write, even if we disagree we should respect each others religion and beliefs knowing none of us are perfect – well nearly anyway!!!).
The Anglican minister of our local church would say Mondays and Saturdays were his day off but I think its a life long calling and as Jesus is available 24/7 then so should ministers.
There is a debate that their family life should come first, well then how many hours should a priest be contracted to work i.e. 30 hours paid, when that time has finished then should they be allowed to do whatever they want.
How do they balance ministering to God’s people and not going over their contractual agreement or breaching working time directives?
Should a person call a minister at 2am in the morning with an emergency is it reasonable for a minister to decline being called out to deal with it at that time or should it wait until the morning?
They have needy congregations and if there are a number in the leadership there should be a church mobile people can ring for prayer or emergencies whatever time of the night or weekend. What is reasonable or unreasonable will depend on the minister and who He or she reports into?
Many pastors and ministers claim they are overworked and do more than their hours however I have been neglected due to my illness and at times required ministerial support and have been failed so are clergy really on call 24/7 in practice and I don’t think they are but try and make us perceive they are instead.
another interesting piece, good.
I can appreciate that you personally may have been hurt by not being attended to when you were in need, but I can assure you that most pastors are hugely overworked. In fact, I work here in my office with a minister, and he begins the day before breakfast, is lucky if he can get a bit of rest after that and then may often be working till well into the late evening. As for weekends: he’s lucky if he gets one out of seven. And he doesn’t even have a parish!