The Church of England moved cautiously to reduce the independence of the majority of its incumbent vicars at its general synod in London yesterday.
Since medieval times clergy have had a degree of independence from the impositions of landlords or the bullying of bishops in the holding of their vicarages and the formal ownership of their churches and churchyards.
Except in abnormal circumstances - charges of conduct unbecoming a clerk in Holy Orders - it has given them freehold tenure of their parishes for life - or at least until retirement age. It has made it difficult to remove the lazy or the incompetent from their parishes.
Now that is to change. In return for employment rights, including appeal to tribunals, the church wants to move to a system of common tenure, placing incumbents on the same footing as other clergy without freehold rights.
The move, recommended in a recent report, was passed despite reservations from such clergy, but only after it had been amended to emphasise its "grave reservations" about the removal of vicarages and parsonages to the control of diocesan boards of finance.
Under the proposals, churches and churchyards will also be placed under the ownership of diocesan boards, but parishes would remain responsible for maintenance of the property and insuring their churches.
Clergy fear the proposals will place vicars under threat from vexatious complaints by parishioners.
But Professor David McClean of Sheffield University, chairman of the committee which compiled the report, told the synod: "The fear that this will mean the end of the eccentric, the lovable maverick, the awkward squad - witch hunts of that sort, even if they won the support of church panels, which I doubt, would never survive the scrutiny of an employment tribunal.
"I would say to the clergy: 'You can be as eccentric and difficult as you like, but if that drives colleagues to nervous breakdowns, or if it prevents you dealing appropriately with the penitent, the dying or the bereaved, a responsible church must intervene, and I challenge anyone to disagree."
He described the current system as ramshackle and argued that the cost of administering new tenure rights, at £1m a year, was small in relation to parish income which totals £600m.
The plans did not find favour with all the clergy members of synod, however. One, Canon Jim Wellington of Syston, Leicestershire, said: "The synod is being asked to support a revolutionary upheaval in parish life. It will shift the balance decisively in favour of the diocesan administration.
"It is surely worth asking whether the problems this is designed to address could be remedied in another way. We must consider whether the one-size-fits-all approach is in the best interests of the church."
The amendment inserting the reservations won the backing of Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and a scattering of bishops. A further amendment calling for a delay in implementing the proposals until 2015 was defeated.
Legislation will now be prepared to enable the move to be approved, and dioceses have until the next synod meeting in July to submit comments.
· The Church of England may not approve of gay clergy, but their partners will benefit from spouse pension rights, a bishop told the synod last night.
The Rt. Rev John Packer, bishop of Leeds, chairman of the church's remuneration and conditions of service committee, said the church's pension fund will come under the terms of the government's civil partnerships legislation, enabling registered partners to have pension rights.