View source for Religion:Priest in charge

{{Short description|Priest in charge of a parish who is not its incumbent}}
A '''priest in charge''' or '''priest-in-charge''' (previously also '''curate-in-charge''') in the Church of England is a [[Religion:Priest|priest]] in charge of a [[Religion:Parish|parish]] who is not its [[Social:Incumbent (ecclesiastical)#The temporalities|incumbent]]. Such priests are not legally responsible for the [[Engineering:Church (building)|church]]es and glebe, but simply hold a licence rather than the freehold and are not appointed by advowson.

The appointment of priests in charge rather than [[Social:Incumbent (ecclesiastical)|incumbents]] (one who does receive the temporalities of an incumbent) is sometimes done when parish reorganisation is taking place or to give the [[Religion:Bishop|bishop]] greater control over the deployment of [[Social:Clergy|clergy]].

Legally, priests in charge are ''[[Religion:Curate|temporary curates]]'', as they have only spiritual responsibilities. Even though they lead the ministry in their parishes, their legal status is little different from assistant curates. However, the term ''priest in charge'' has come to be used because the term ''curate'' often refers to an ''assistant curate'', who is usually a priest recently ordained who is not in charge of a parish — although it is quite possible for a priest previously beneficed to return to a curacy, sometimes as a matter of choice. The [[Finance:Stipend|stipend]] of a priest in charge is often the equivalent to that of an incumbent, and so they are sometimes referred to as having ''incumbent status''.

Incumbents include [[Religion:Vicar (Anglicanism)|vicar]]s and [[Religion:Rector (ecclesiastical)|rector]]s.

In the Church of Ireland, priests in charge are referred to as ''bishop's curates''.

==See also==
* Church of England § Structure

==External links==
* [http://www.dioceseny.org/pages/275-church-terminology#priest_in_charge Church Terminology]

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[[Category:Ecclesiastical titles]]



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