He would get a year for selling church offices (5)
I believe the answer is:
simon
'he would get a year for selling church offices' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.
'he would' is the wordplay.
'he' becomes 'Sim'.
'would' becomes 'on' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'sim'+'on'='SIMON'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for simon that I've seen before include "Sir -- Rattle, conductor" , "- and Garfunkel" , "Simple pieman" , "Apostle Peter's other name" , "Simple chap" .)