A CAMPAIGN to boost vicars' wages by 50 per cent will alienate congregations and put a financial burden on church parishes, according to an East Lancashire clergyman.

The MSF union, which represents 1,500 vicars, rectors and hospital chaplains nationwide, is pressing for a pay rise for parish priests to bring them into line with cathedral clergy.

At the moment parish priests get a tied house and around £16,000 a year, known as a stipend. Clergy based at cathedrals who have extra responsibilities get a larger wage. The union wants all the UK's 10,000 priests, wherever they are based, to get a uniform £24,000 a year.

The MSF has taken its pay campaign to the Synod of the Church of England, the Church's ruling body.

But Canon Stuart Hartley, vicar of St Philip's Church, Nelson, said: "I've always managed on my income. Compared with a lot of people in Nelson, £16,000 a year is a princely sum.

"Making a pay demand like this could alienate people. It would come out of the pockets of parishioners who are having to find more and more each year to meet the parish share contribution to the church. I wouldn't want that burden to increase because of this." Martyn Halsall, spokesman for Blackburn Diocese, said: "Certain clergy's stipend and conditions vary from parish to parish. On top of that clergy also have a house and that's estimated to be worth £10,000 a year although obviously that also varies depending on the area."

Mr Halsall said some affluent parishes provided vicars with a secretary or even a car to help ease the workload.

"Clergy do not go into the job from a financial point of view," he added. "It is still seen as a calling and most people would enter the priesthood on that understanding."

The Archdeacon of Blackburn, John Marsh, is leading a working group that is looking at the issue of clergy wages which will report to the Synod.

Blackburn Diocesan secretary the Rev Michael Wedgeworth said: "A great many clergy would not support the kind of figures being suggested but I think it's fair to say there's a feeling that pay and conditions need to be looked at.

"I think there will be some increase but nothing like what the MSF is proposing."

The Rev Brian Stevenson, vicar of St Silas's, Blackburn, said in some poorer parishes in East Lancashire the vicar was the only person in a professional job.

"I do take the point that £16,000 is a high wage for some people but there's often such a wide range of salaries in a parish. My parish includes Beardwood on one side where some people are earning large amounts and Blackburn on the other side where there are people with moderate salaries. There are clergy who are working under very hard conditions and environment."