Leading bishops

SIR – Dr Peter Greenhalgh (Letters, January 8) blames politicians for the bishops we get, but it is the Church which, through the Crown Nominations Commission, chooses the names.

The problem lies in the selection process and the criteria employed. As one senior bishop explained recently: “By and large, you rise to the top in the Church of England by not upsetting anyone.” He explained that by character, training and experience, such people are not usually comfortable with crises and confrontation.

The irony here is that it was almost certainly because the Rev Dr Michael Nazir-ali, the former bishop of Rochester, refused to shy away from controversy and from theological, social and political truths unpalatable to the liberal oligarchy in Church and state, that he rose no further.

At no point in their selection or ministry are clergy assessed or tested for leadership qualities or experience. Those subjects tend to be treated with a degree of indifference or embarrassment in the mistaken belief that academic prowess, membership of committees and synods, a lack of orthodoxy and an idealistic social conscience are substitutes.

There are exceptions: at least one diocese has introduced leadership seminars for clergy. But the Church has become so calcified in its prejudices and party politics that its best hope lies in a radical overhaul.

Not that this will happen, of course, because too many stand to lose, while the inbuilt closedshop safeguards against such a reformation are too strong. Rev R C Paget Brenchley, Kent