Permission to Officiate

Applications for Permission to Officiate (PtO)

If you are seeking PtO for the first time you will need to complete the ‘Application for Permission to Officiate in St Albans Diocese’. Please note that if you are seeking PtO having moved to the Diocese of St Albans, one of the Bishop’s Staff team will arrange to meet with you following submission of your application.

Upon commendation and the necessary DBS checks and safeguarding, a reference will be obtained and if all is satisfactory the Bishop of St Albans will grant PtO for a period of 3 years for those under the age of 80, and on an annual basis for those over that age.

Once PtO has been granted you will be asked to complete, with the incumbent or equivalent of your local parish church, a ‘Statement of Agreed Expectations – PtO Clergy’. This will provide some agreed boundaries about what you are prepared to offer and where you are prepared to minister.

PtO Role Description

Permission to Officiate enables a priest to officiate when invited by the minister having the cure of souls in any place (or the churchwardens/Area Dean in a vacancy) in the diocese of St Albans.

Forms of ministry that usually require permission to officiate include:

• Taking services and occasional offices, including during a vacancy,
• Covering a period of authorised absence (such as sabbatical, maternity leave or sick leave),
• Spiritual direction, mentoring or work consultation (e.g. a retired cleric with experience of church schools can be of considerable help to an incumbent coming new to this specialised area),
• Conducting retreats or quiet days,
• Acting as an outside consultant/teacher/facilitator for parishes (e.g. for PCC away days, stewardship campaigns, Lent groups and house groups),
• Participating in missions, staffing CMD and ordination courses, assisting with ministerial review.

Renewal of PtO and ongoing Pastoral Support

Once a year you will meet with the incumbent (or equivalent) for a pastoral check-in and to ascertain whether any circumstances have changed. A very brief note of this annual meeting will be recorded on the ‘Annual Ministerial Return – PtO Clergy’.

If anything substantial has changed then a new ‘Statement of Agreed Expectations – PtO Clergy’ should be completed.

Incumbents will be contacted with the relevant forms when any member of PtO clergy within their parish or church wishes to renew their PtO.