THE BISHOP of Blackburn today said no priests in Lancashire would lose their jobs -- despite being told to scrap 40 posts.

The Rt Rev Nicholas Reade has been told by the Church of England's governing body that the Blackburn diocese has around 40 too many paid clergy.

By 2009, the Diocesan Synod expects the number of clergy on the Blackburn payroll to fall from 180 to 140.

But the Bishop today pledged that no one would be forced to leave their job.

He said: "It certainly will not be the case that people lose their jobs.

"We have to cut our cloth according to what we have, and there are various ways we can do this."

The Bishop, who is responsible for a diocese covering much of Lancashire, added: "It may be that some parishes merge in the future, particularly in rural areas. In the past we had a vicar in every rural parish, even if it had only 300 people in it, but that isn't possible any more.

"We receive very little by way of financial support from the Church centrally to run parishes these days, and the figure which has been provided for clergy is one which has been drawn up for every area in the country.

"It means that while we have a perceived over-supply of clergy, areas in the south do not have enough."

Bishop Reade added: "We are in an almost unique position in that our congregations are ever so slightly up at the moment, and that is excellent.

"One area we are looking at is a greater role for lay preachers."