UK: Lichfields bishops live Lent on minimum wage
Date: March 3

All of the bishops in Lichfield Diocese have agreed to live on the minimum wage during Lent. For Bishop Jonathan Gledhill, who is in charge of the diocese, he will be foregoing over £2,000 that he would usually receive for his stipend to try to learn what it is like to live on the breadline.

The Bishops of Shrewsbury, the Rt Rev Alan Smith, Stafford, the Rt Rev Dr Gordon Mursell, and the Bishop of Wolverhampton, the Rt Rev Michael Bourke, will also take £5.05 an hour, on the basis of a 40-hour week, giving the surplus to the diocesan Lent appeal. They said that they will also cut down on energy and the use of their private cars. “It sends the message that poverty still matters in society and is not something the Church should be ignoring,” said Bishop Bourke, who has done the experiment for Lent before. The rest