Church budget shortfall leaves about 28 priest posts vacant

About 28 priest positions in Denmark will remain vacant until the new year because the fund used to pay priests’ salaries has run short, DR reports. A survey of the country’s dioceses found that they cannot hire all the priests they need before the fund is replenished.

Other priests must cover services including baptisms, weddings, funerals and church services. Priests are expected to step in when a post is vacant or a colleague is ill, but taking on the work of several people for an extended period puts pressure on their working conditions, said Pernille Vigsø Bagge, head of the Danish Association of Priests.

Vigsø Bagge said the delays add to an already lengthy process: time passes before a vacant post is advertised, and hiring a priest also takes time. Delaying recruitment by a further three or four months because there is no money to pay a new hire could leave church members without the priestly services they are entitled to, she said.

Henrik Stubkjær, the bishop of Viborg, said the vacancies could mean priests doing almost twice their usual workload for several months. In the Diocese of Viborg, six posts cannot be filled until the new year.

Stubkjær said the problem is a shortfall in the allocation for priests’ salaries. By the end of September, eight of the ten dioceses had overspent, he said, while employing fewer priests than the allocation was intended to cover.

The allocation is funded 60 per cent by church tax and 40 per cent by the state. Churches cannot increase their contribution without a corresponding increase in the state subsidy.

Stubkjær acknowledged that the Danish national church has fewer members, but said its workload has grown. He pointed to increased demand for chaplains in hospitals and prisons, as well as calls for priests from the armed forces. Vigsø Bagge said the church still has 4.2 million members and is unable to meet demand under the current financial arrangements.

Church Minister Ida Auken declined DR’s request for an interview. In a written response, she said everyone should have access to a priest wherever they live. A working group bringing together bishops and the ministry is preparing recommendations on how priest positions should be prioritised and distributed in future. Auken said she looked forward to receiving them and that it was the bishops’ responsibility to ensure the funds were used wisely.