I AM a Minister Secular Employment and have been a full-time employee of QinetiQ for nearly 12 years. I am also an honorary priest-in-charge of a Church of England parish in the diocese of Worcester.
My current role within QinetiQ is as a project manager and is known and acknowledged by the church. I was also part of the team that worked on the initial ideas that were later transformed into Quintel S4. At no time has the church ever challenged my role in QinetiQ, far from it.
When I was ordained, more than 20 years ago, I was working for a company that had a number of contracts directly with the Ministry of Defence and I was personally responsible for running many of them. The then Bishop of Worcester (the late Philip Goodrich) was required to give me approval to continue in my secular employment before I could be ordained. This he did willingly. I subsequently joined the Defence Research Agency, now QinetiQ.
The present Bishop of Worcester reviews my ministry as part of the standard ministerial appraisals and has never questioned the appropriateness of my employment. The church has given me every encouragement to continue working with the company, to the extent that it has now invited me to be an honorary canon of Worcester Cathedral. The invitation is not only in recognition of my parochial work but also the work I undertake as an employee of QinetiQ.
I wholeheartedly support the work of QinetiQ and that includes its role in the field of defence. I will do all I can to make sure the weapon systems supplied to our people in the services are the best that can be provided. I am also chaplain to 1017 (Malvern) ATC Squadron that is an adjunct of the RAF. That too receives the endorsement of the church.
If anyone feels this kind of support is incompatible with the role of an ordained priest, I suggest they need to consider also the support provided by service chaplaincies and industrial mission.
Questions about the involvement of the church in the defence arena should be focused on its work with those who decide on the direction and application of defence equipment rather than on its connections with manufacturers and users.
I would also point out that QinetiQ has a determined policy of turning swords into ploughshares as is often seen in the reports of its activities in the Gazette. Quintel is just another example of that.
THE REV. ERIC G KNOWLES, Wykewane, Malvern.
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