Bishops to live on minimum wage

Bishop Gledhill's appeal is getting an extra boost through Lent

Bishops in the Lichfield diocese will be going without more than chocolate through Lent.

Three area bishops have agreed to live on the minimum wage for weeks donating the difference in their incomes to the Bishop of Lichfield's Lent Appeal.

The Rt Revd Jonathan Gledhill launched his In the Margins Appeal on Tuesday to raise funds for four overseas projects.

It will also back three West Midlands' schemes helping young people who have become alienated from their community.

The Bishop of Shrewsbury, the Rt Revd Dr Alan Smith, Bishop of Stafford, the Rt Revd Dr Gordon Mursell, and the Bishop of Wolverhampton, the Rt Revd Michael Bourke are urging Christians in the Midlands to back the appeal.

Corinthians reminder

They each earn a £27,990 annual stipend as well as having housing costs paid.

That means the appeal should receive several thousand pounds between the three of them.

In a joint statement the three bishops say: "Paul, in his second letter to the Corinthians, reminds us that we really do have plenty; and urges us to use this to be generous to those who have little.

"The Bishop of Lichfield's Lent Appeal in 2006 is supporting a whole range of projects which will help us to do just that.

"We encourage all of you to respond to this appeal as generously and as creatively as you can."

The money will go to a drug awareness peer-mentoring scheme in Wolverhampton, a men's shelter for the homeless in Shrewsbury and a homeless mentoring scheme in Stoke-on-Trent.