Parsons in poverty

SIR – The Church of England should heed the counsel “cast out first the beam out of thine own eye” before criticising others over zero-hours contracts (report, September 15).

Cofe clerics on the minimum stipend receive free housing while they are working but are paid a lower salary as a result, and are thus unable to get on the property ladder while working.

They have to vacate their housing 90 days after retiring, and their occupational pension is insufficient for them ever to be able to afford to buy a property. Their “living” may not be a zero-hours contract but it has given them zero for a secure retirement. Declan Salter

Chalfont St Giles, Buckinghamshire

SIR – Brian Roberts (Letters, September 14) suggests that if the Archbishop of Canterbury wishes to make a political speech he should become an MP.

As one of the Lords Spiritual, he is ineligible to stand for election to the Commons, but already has a place in Parliament with a seat in the Lords. Harry Wiseman

Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk