Shock Troops

By now the ration-ridden British can take almost any kind of shortage in stride. One that they are at least beginning to lick is a serious shortage of clergymen. Two world wars have left the Church of England with a 4,000-minister deficit (not counting chaplains still in uniform).

To fill the breach, the Church has launched an all-out drive among servicemen, and has found 5,000 volunteers so far. Candidates are screened at 108 selection centers throughout the Empire and in Army demobilizing areas. These centers are manned by committees of five (one of them a layman) who give prospective clergymen several days' once-over in an informal house-party atmosphere.

By last week 1,870 of the 5,000 had successfully run the gauntlet, and 550 were already in training. Half of these clerical shock troops have had no more than a primary education. One was a coal miner, another a waiter, a third a warehouse clerk. By 1949 the Church of England hopes to have made 2,000 of them into clergymen, at a cost of $4,800 per man.

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