In his Editorial appropriately for All Hallows Eve, the Editor writes: The word parson, now largely close to archaic usage, was historically an informal noun used of Anglican Protestant clergy in particular. It comes from the Middle English persone meaning ‘the person’ because the parson was legally viewed as the ‘official person’ representing the church in the community. ... However, the close relationship between minister and people has, in recent decades, been dismantled as the Church of England has centralised and become burdened with bureaucracy as parishes have been, closed, altered and amalgamated – sometimes to ridiculous extent, way beyond the capacity of any personal oversight. ... CLICK ON PICTURE TO ACCESS FULL ARTICLE