BY ATTENDING my local church for nearly 40 years, I must qualify as one of the stubborn, hard-hearted and demanding churchgoers the Holy Spirit has led Bishop Pedley to lambast (Citizen, last week).

Because he has been elevated within the apostolic succession of the CofE, I must accept his opinion on spiritual matters.

But that does not prevent me from commenting on his gifts for uniting Anglican laity to spread the Kingdom of God.

Might I suggest he first goes to the education committee at Blackburn Cathedral and tells them how the laity deplore the way church spending on educ-ation is deliberately not directed to the most needy but to the middle classes.

Then he might institute time sheets for his clergy to see how much of their time is spent taking the Word to the people, rather than on attending courses and printing service sheets.

Then he might go though his deanery system to see how it could be either abandoned or updated to suit modern life.

We are all sinners, Bishop, who need a priest; deserve does not seem to be an appropriate word, but it does throw some light on the world and self views of higher clergy.

M R Jackson, Hest Bank.