Hire me!

As a full-time missionary priest working with the Sion Community for Evangelism, I’m available for hire. Why might you want to hire me?

“Hiring me” brings us to the sensitive topic of money. Jesus said “freely you have received; freely give”. When I was a parish priest, I could work on promoting evangelisation supported by my parish income. But now I work full time under a community which gains its income from assisting Catholic parishes and schools with the work of mission. Scripture also says the worker is worthy of his hire! So there is room for negotiation, but where possible I would expect to receive remuneration at roughly the national level recommended for clergy who are members of religious orders. This means that a reasonable fee (payable to “Sion Community”) would be:

Professional Consultancy and Parish Supply

  • 1-2 hours of offering expert advice to a group: £120
  • Public lecture: £90 per hour
  • Weekend supply in parish: £65 for one Mass with homily + £40 for each additional Mass with the same homily
  • Weekday supply: £40 per Mass

Travel expenses will be full reimbursement of any public transport expenditure (using the cheapest reasonable method) and the HMRC rate of 45 pence per mile if I am driving myself (negotiable down to cost-of-fuel in cases of hardship). Travel expenses should normally be paid directly by cheque to “G. Leyshon” or BACS details available on request.

Charismatic Events

There is separate scale of fees suggested by the English National Service Committee for ministry at charismatic events and based on that I would hope for a donation of roughly this size:

  • Delivering a weekend of 3-4 talks plus Mass with homilies: £350
  • Main Talk at a large conference: £100-£150
  • Day of Renewal: £100
  • Evening event – large group: £70
  • Evening event – small group: £30

Again, travel costs should be paid in addition.

Mass Intentions

I celebrate Mass daily, usually in one of the Sion community chapels at Coventry or Brentwood. I may be able to celebrate Mass for someone’s personal intentions, but I cannot guarantee my availability to do so, nor that any particular date will be free. Please enquire before sending any stipend. Once I agree to offer a Mass, the level of stipend is entirely at your discretion (including NO stipend), but £5 or £10 would be a typical offering. Please prefer your own parish priest before asking me to celebrate a Mass for your intentions. Mass intentions should normally be paid directly by cheque to “G. Leyshon” or BACS details available on request.

The Sion Community for Evangelism is a Registered Charity in England & Wales, No. 327967.

As a team player, you might want to know how I fit in when working with others. I’ve taken many personality inventories as part of my training, so it may help you to know that:

  • I was an only child for seven years, and since then the first-born of two brothers, with typical traits for this birth order.
  • My dominant Love Language is Physical Touch, with Acts of Service and Quality Time also significant to me.
  • In a Motivational Gifts analysis I score equally highly as a Teacher and Ruler, with Serving and then Prophetic/Perceiving following closely behind.
  • According to Honey & Mumford’s learning styles, I have a very strong preference for working as a Theorist and a Pragmatist; a strong preference for working as a Reflector; and a low preference for working as an Activist.
  • My five Signature Themes from the Gallup Clifton StrengthsFinder are: Responsibility, Learner, Strategic, Analytical and Achiever.
  • According to the Belbin model of team roles, I am an Implementer.
  • My Meyers-Briggs Type is ESTJ. I’m only weakly Extrovert and Sensing, strongly Thinking and very strongly Judging.

I don’t know my Enneagram category, and have no intention of finding out. While it is harmless as a way of categorizing a personality (all personality tests help by fitting you into a box and hinder by tempting you to be defined by that box), the Vatican has reservations about the way Enneagram teaching has been developed with prescriptions on how each personality type should find balance.