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Diary of a (Maybe) Retired Pastor

Tag: Post Office scandal

  • God, Mammon, and Paula Vennells

    mayberetiredpastor

    God, Mammon, and Paula Vennells

    “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.

    Matthew 6:24 (RSV)

    Here in the UK, the public inquiry into the Post Office scandal which has been described as the greatest miscarriage of justice in English legal history is reaching a climax. The former CEO during the most important period of the scandal, Revd. Paula Vennells, has begun giving her testimony to the inquiry. For Christians the fact that she was, and is, an ordained minister in the Anglican Church adds an extra dimension to the scandal – how is it that a Christian Minister could be at the helm of such a miscarriage of justice? In fact, a little reflection on church history, both in the past and more recently, will remind us that Christian ministers are by no means immune to the grossest violations of integrity and justice. But that does not excuse us from asking the question why should that be?

    I have quoted one of Jesus’ most famous sayings above. The alert reader will notice that I have used the old Revised Standard Version (which I grew up with) in which the counterpoint to God is Mammon. Modern translations will translate “Mammon” as “riches” or “wealth”. This is quite reasonable since “mammon” was indeed used to mean just that. But Jesus’ contraposition of the word to “God” confers, it seems to me, something more to the word. It implies a deeper spiritual significance. We are not talking about mere riches but the spiritual powers behind it. The Apostle Paul warns us that it is not against “flesh and blood” that we struggle, but against “principalities and powers”, that is, spiritual forces.

    I feel sure that mere money did not sway Paula Vennells. She was indeed well paid as the CEO of the Post Office and felt obligation to the Post Office and she worked hard to fulfil her duties. But in doing so she failed to notice that her devotion was slowly drifting away from God and to the spiritual powers underlying the riches of the position of CEO. Instead of serving God, she served the spiritual powers behind the position of CEO and so she became blind to the ordinary people who were suffering at the hands of the Post Office – her hands. She had become devoted to the Post Office.

    Paula Vennells is not unique in this. Christian leaders everywhere have fallen to this subtle idolatry. Whether it is a church, an evangelistic ministry, or some other kind of work or organisation, as wealth starts to figure large around the office of the leader the powers behind that wealth start to exert their subtle influence on the Christian leader. Whether it’s in defence of the church, the ministry, or the NHS (say), or, indeed, simple greed, slowly the institution or organisation or the office itself  begins to usurp the place that belongs to God in the heart of the leader. The result is that people become mere assets, units of resource, or any of the other euphemisms that we use to disguise the fact we no longer regard people as bearers of the image of God but only as resource units worthwhile only in so far as they have value to the institution or the satisfaction of our greed.

    Paula Vennells story is a stark reminder to us of the subtle perils of idolatry for Christian leaders once wealth and riches start to accumulate around their office and organisations. We need to remember that as leaders we serve God through serving people. Because we are leaders much of that service is through the institution or organisation, but that must never blind us to the purpose of our leadership – to serve the people we lead, it is through that that we honour God.

  • Paula Vennells

    mayberetiredpastor

    Paula Vennells

    God has made me a byword to everyone, a man in whose face people spit.

    Job 17:6

    Paula Vennells is a Christian minister who was the chief executive of the Post Office during the period when it was most vigorously denying any wrong doing regarding the prosecutions of hundreds of its own sub-post masters (the ordinary people who run the local post offices). In the face of public outcry against the injustice perpetrated by the Post Office – it has been described as the “most widespread miscarriage of justice … in British legal history”1 – she has expressed her sorrow2 for the suffering of those wrongfully treated by the Post Office and has returned the CBE she was awarded when she left the Post Office in 2019. This surely falls far short of what is required.

    The chief executive of an organisation is responsible for the actions of the organisation. This is part of the raison d’etre of the office and a major reason why they are substantially rewarded. The chief executive shares in the glory of the organisation but also its shame. Paula Vennells was rewarded and honoured for turning the Post Office from loss to profit. She shared in its glory. But this was before the true extent of the injustices perpetrated by the Post Office were known. With the exposure of those gross injustices the Post Office is rightly shamed. Paula Vennells shares in that shame. But so far she has not owned that shame nor owned the fault.  It maybe that, privately, she feels it, but that is not enough. She has to publicly own and confess it.

    But, she is also a Christian minister who, it is said, was at one time even considered for the Bishopric of London.  As a minister of God she is held to a higher standard than others (see e.g. the letter of James 3:1  in the Bible). It maybe that part of her silence is due to legal advice not to say anything in case she incriminate herself. The Court of Appeal described the actions of the Post Office as “so egregious as to make the prosecution of any of the “Horizon cases” an affront to the conscience of the court”3 . But she is accountable to a higher court than any mere human judge and she must do what is right before Him. Publicly confessing that she failed, as the CEO, to ensure that the Post Office acted in a just manner and apologising to those who have suffered as a consequence is the first step of repentance and of putting herself right with God and with all those who have suffered through her failure. This is regardless of the details of how well she understood what was going on, whether her subordinates deceived or misled her, or any other internal matter. It is as the CEO of the organisation that she has to respond.

    To be a byword is not a good thing in the biblical Old Testament.  It is the sign of God’s judgement on a wayward and unrepentant Israel and Job applies it personally to himself as he mourns the condition he finds himself in. Paula Vennels has, sadly, become a byword for corporate injustice on an enormous scale. She will be referred to and studied in business management courses, in theological courses, in Christian leadership courses, as an example of what not to do as a leader.  She can, however, still affect the final chapter of this tale by what she does before she testifies to the public inquiry.

    1The CCRC and Post Office/ Horizon cases https://ccrc.gov.uk/news/the-ccrc-and-post-office-horizon-cases/  acc. 13/02/2024

    2 https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/post-office-scandal-paula-vennells-bates-b2475635.html acc. 14/2/2024

    3IN THE MATTER OF A REFERENCE BY THE CRIMINAL CASES REVIEW COMMISSION Between: JOSEPHINE HAMILTON & OTHERS Appellants – and – POST OFFICE LIMITED Respondent https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Hamilton-Others-v-Post-Office-judgment-230421.pdf acc. 13/02/24