Saturday 28 October 2017

DOWN AND CONNOR CLERICAL SALARIES


AN UNNAMED PRIEST OF DOWN AND SENT ME THE FOLLOWING NOTE BY POST:





"23rd October 2017



Dear Pat, As a priest of the dioceses of Down and Connor I can tell you what the income is for diocesan clergy.



Parish priests receive 12 monthly stipends of £ 1,350 per month.



Curates receive £ 1,250 per month, as do chaplains and priests in other ministeries.



None of them receive a Christmas or Easter Stipends. (These are forwarded to the Diocesan Office)



They have free accommodation. heat, light and parish phone.



They pay for their own car, fuel, mobile phone, car insurance and food.



They also pay 20% tax on their annual stipends.



The bishop receives £ 1,950 per month.



I hope this will be published on your web page".




Thank you, Father, for sending me that note which appears quite sincere and accurate to me.




Will you please allow me, and interested readers, to ask some questions?



This means that PP's get an annual income of £16,200 - after tax £  293 per week?



Curates: £ 15,000 - after tax £ 275 per week?



So PP's get £18 per week more than curates.




Bishop Treanor gets £ 23,400 per annum - after tax - or £ 404 per week.




Do parish priests and curates keep the offerings they get for Baptisms, Weddings and Funerals?




Bishop Treanor is an extensive traveller. It's hard to imagine his £ 404 a week covering all his travels? Does he travel economy? Does he use VIP lounges as many bishops do?



For instance who paid for his trip to Zimbabwe - Trocaire?



Does the bishop still get an envelope with cash or a check when he does Confirmations?



Rumours say that this envelope contains £300 or £500 per Confirmation?



I am not claiming this. But it is a perception?



Finally, as the diocese paid for the renovations of Lisbreen, and not Bishop Treanor personally, why can people not be told the cost of renovation?



I understand you too may not be privy to this information.



But it's secrecy has led, and is leading to wild speculation.




It was Co. Tyrone workers on the renovation that allegedly leaked about the £ 250 door knobs and the  £ 100 a roll paper?

Bishop Treanor could stop all this rumour by doing like you did - publish the figures.


95 comments:

  1. Pat, the salaries as outlined are relevant to no one except the priests concerned, their parish and Revenue. I think it's most disingenuous to print this article. And - we'll be back to the usual judgments, innuendo and gossip. Sadly. I hope the Little Brothers of the Oratory are noting your agenda. You're more interested in clerical gossip than genuine renewal - didn't you post the "vision" of a new comnunity, proposing it as a radical new beginning! Today's blog contradicts the "new vision". We're going backwards with this blog re: salaries, rather than moving forward. What a shame after a few days of hope and promise...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think the note from this priest was important.

      This Blog is my doing and mine alone.

      Nothing to do with LBO.

      Have you some vested interest in these matters NOT being published?

      Delete
    2. Public and civil service salaries are all published. Most professions have salaries published via job adverts. Other salaries are available via union agreements and payscale surveys. So to anon 1.04 I say why should it be a big secret what they earn?

      I by the way get a public service engineer grade 3 salary. Anybody i know may Google what I earn. It's no big deal as I've nothing to hide.

      Delete
    3. I disagree. There should be transparency and equity about priesrs’ salaries. It doesn’t need to be the stuff of gossip. And the salaries in Ireland should be standardised.

      Delete
    4. The Catholic people pay the priests wages so they have a right to know where the money is going . Also there is all this talk about poor priests having to be self employed. It's a terrible pity on them . As self employed they can claim back vat and can claim on their cars petrol uniform ect ect plus free house electric and heat . Add on a couple of hollidays a year and then birth death and marriage money . God I just don't know how they cope ? Perhaps we should have a telethon for those poor critters

      Delete
  2. What sort of paper costs £100 a roll? Must be gold toilet paper..

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    Replies
    1. Wall paper ya numpty.

      Delete
    2. Well if the wall paper is a 100 a roll he's maybe wipin his clerical hole with linen hankies

      Delete
  3. Your calculations do not take account of the fact that the first £11,500
    of annual income is tax-free (the personal allowance).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You are right. I will correct later.

      Delete
    2. I would presume petrol, diesel, car insurance, office expenses, mobile phones etc are all tax deductible for these self employed chaps and that no deductions for tax arise.

      Delete
  4. If priests are, as we are told, not employees, how come they get a fixed stipend. Sounds like a salary to me. Could they get Working Tax Credit?

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  5. Priests are classed by revenue as self employed

    ReplyDelete
  6. What about having to give a priest 10 quid for a Mass card
    People die every day.
    One can have a mass said at the grann for 1.50

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You dont get a Mass in the Gran. You share a Mass with hundreds and thousands of others. Read the Mass card.

      Delete
    2. Jeez! These guys don't 'say' Mass. They can't. It's money for old rope.

      Delete
    3. 09:35
      A priest is allowed one Mass stipend per day. £10 isn’t unreasonable for a contribution. You should compare this with expenses for public/civil servants.
      You have little to complain about.

      Delete
    4. And those Masses add £ 3,650 to his annual salary or £70 a week!

      Delete
    5. 12:51, did you reflect on your comment before posting it? I doubt it.

      NO ROMAN CATHOLIC PARASITICAL 'PRIEST' CAN OFFER MASS. This was already, and conclusively, done by Christ, at the Last Supper.

      Roman Catholic 'priests' are useless spongers who have cashed in on the Last Supper.

      Jesus NEVER referred to himself as a priest.

      Delete
    6. MC, many of us would respectfully disagree with your theology of ministry and priesthood.

      Mass stipend originated in a priest being given an offering to sustain himself - long before priests had a wage, a salary or an official allowance of any kind.

      Of course that practise has been greatly abused over the years and centuries.

      Delete
    7. So what did He mean when He said - “do this in memory of Me”? A typically utterly stupid and inane remark from troll Carta.

      Delete
    8. Bishop Pat, Paul the Apostle supported himself financially as a tent maker (his trade), lest others accuse him of 'sponging'.

      You'll find this in Acts of the Apostles.

      Roman Catholic priests should hold full-time jobs.

      Delete
    9. Dear God! Do you truly believe that a 'priest' offers Mass? If you do, then you are contradicting 1 Peter 3:18.

      Delete
    10. Magna, you continue to misrepresent, misinform, play loose with your theology, asduming you are talking to philistines. Your condescension and warped hatred know no bounds. Any opportunity you are given you display your bias, prejudice and empty, arrant nonsense. I have a full time job as a Priest. I'm not complaining and one thing I can say for certain - people like Magna, self obsessed, arrogant, self absorbed, "know alls" are the very ones who contribute little to their community. They criticise and condemn but don't participate to enrich the life of their community. So Magna, try for once to be someone who "inspires" and "encourages" even though to be such requires humility, courage and a spiritual spirit!

      Delete
    11. The priests I know are not “spongers”. They work hard and they are always available. “The labourer deserves his wages”. Not everyone is as jaundiced by prejudice as that person at 13:17 &14:41.

      Delete
    12. What exactly “are” you 14:52? A Catholic? A Free Presbyterian? A Plymouth Brethren? A Baptist?

      Or are you just a plain old messer and stirrer?

      1 Peter 3:18 is in no way contradicted by the Catholic doctrine of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

      I’m not even going to waste my time explaining how though, as it would be a totally pointless exercise.

      Delete
    13. @Magna Carta how do you know that Jesus never referred to himself as a priest? Were you there?

      Delete
    14. @Magna Carta how do you know Jesus never called himself a priest? Were you there?

      Delete
    15. 16:04, 'the labourer deserves his wages' is proverbially structured and was likely a common Jewish saying at the time of Jesus. Similarly worded statements (or statements with similar meanings) in Leviticus and Deuteronomy suggest these books as its inspiration.

      These Old Testament sayings were both a warning to, and an admonition of, the well-heeled in Jewish society for withholding just payment from the poor; it had nothing whatever to do with financially supporting Roman Catholic priests.

      No gospel other than Matthew atributes this saying to Jesus. It is true that Luke records a variation of it, but his source can only have been Matthew. (Luke was a Gentile convert raised in a non-Jewish milieu and, therefore, not likely to have been familiar with Jewish proverbs. It means, too, that Matthew's gospel prededed Luke's.)

      The upshot of all this is that 'the labourer deserves his wages' was a Matthean licence: 'an invention', in other words. (And it isn't Matthew's only literary licence; Matthew was nothing if not an imaginative writer.)

      Even so, its broader context in Matthew's gospel (especially in light of Ch 6: vv 25 through 33) makes it clear that material provision for the disciples was God's responsibility, not the Jewish people's (or anyone else's for that matter).

      It is typical of Roman Catholic clergy that they interpret scripture self-servingly.

      Delete
    16. 20:03, none of the gospels record that of Jesus. None. One of the few occasions when they actually harmonise on a matter.

      The idea of Jesus as priest was a licence taken by his followers.

      Delete
    17. 19:03, and what are you for not understanding a very clear comment of mine? It was directed at the poster, 14:07, and was a rebuttal of his belief that a priest offers Mass.

      A priest cannot offer Mass as there is, so to speak, only one: the Last Supper. And its one and only 'celebrant' was Jesus.

      That scriptural verse I mentioned makes very clear that Christ died only once for our salvation. He does not, therefore, die again and again when a 'priest' officiates at Mass; he cannot offer Mass as this would contradict 1 Peter.

      Delete
    18. Oh this is funny. I wonder where the idea of Jesus as priest could *possibly* have come from?

      Delete
    19. 13:08 - not necessarily by any means. 80% of the time there is no stipend for my daily Mass. You might get a stipend of £10/£20 if there is an anniversary but mostly there is no stipend for daily Mass.

      Delete
    20. I find the whole idea of paying stipends for Masses incredibly cheap. You cannot pay for something priceless.

      Delete
    21. Poster MC 21:18
      Matthew as a source for Luke?
      No reputable scholar holds this contention.

      Delete
    22. Question for Magna Carta: you have quoted the bible several times today. In your opinion what gives it authority?

      Delete
    23. 01:42, no 'reputable' scholar? Nonsense.

      It is often such scholars who push the boundaries of human knowledge and understanding, because they prepared to go out on an intellectual limb and risk derision from mainstream colleagues.

      Biblical scholarship is not a precise discipline; indeed it cannot be, since its field is the ancient past and its documentary sources few and far between (some of it unreliable; some of it of doubtful authenticity).Therefore much biblical scholarship remains speculative, including the consensus that the gospels of Matthew and Luke were written independently of each other.

      Delete
    24. 07:07, the Bible does not have comprehensive authority, for much of it is a projection not of the divine will, but of baser, human motives.

      Delete
    25. “Magna Carta” @21:30 - your comments reveal you to be a theological ignoramus.

      The Church does not believe that Jesus is “re-crucified” in the Holy Mass.

      The Mass makes His once and for all Sacrifice offered on the Cross, present in our midst until the end of the world.

      It is a slander of anti-Catholic fundamentalist extremists, in various Protestant sects, that the Church crucifies Christ over and over again at every Holy Mass.

      You are simply repeating their lie and showing your own appalling ignorance of the Truth.

      Delete
    26. MC has answered everyone's questions. So to summarise: he's a charasmatic smorgasbord (?ex) Catholic who will randomly quote proof texts (and at other times denounce others for that). He is also an apparent scholar who is incapable of sourcing his opinions. His only source of authority is his own whim, driven by his bitterness at getting thrown out of seminary. The above fulminations are so outside of mainstream Christology and sacramental theology that they place MC in a sect on his own. Now he'll call me a priest or a hoe or something...

      Delete
    27. 15:30, your capacity for comprehension is worrying. My post was directed at a commentor deluded enough to believe that a so-called 'priest' can offer Mass.

      I did not say that the Church believes that Jesus is ' "re-crucified" ' during Mass. You might profit from remedial classes in basic English.

      As for my alleged 'showing...appalling ignorance of the Truth', your criticism is more than a bit rich coming from someone who has shown such ignorance of my post.

      Delete
    28. 15:41, have you ever read Scripture? Your post does not suggest so. If you had, you would know that Jesus, according to the gospels, used proof texts, too.

      My source of authority is principally Scripture. The inspired word of God. But then, you don't much about Scripture, do you?

      Delete
    29. Just leave Carta. There is absolutely no point. He’s simply a malevolent messer and he plays with words, twisting everything you will write. He is fast and loose with Sacred truths. Leave the sad man to his devices. He’s like a nuisance serial heckler on this page.

      Delete
    30. 16:36, is this really the best you can offer to answer my posts?

      Delete
    31. It’s more than you deserve, bud. Dealing with you is utterly fruitless and totally pointless.

      Delete
    32. Magna, no I've never read 'scripture' - I'm solely dependent on the extracts here. Interesting how you refer to it as 'scripture'. On what authority have you decided that 'scripture' is 'scripture' and how it should be used - especially as you have derided others' use of proof texts here previously?
      16:36`s reply is actually the best anyone can offer you since the poster is holding up a mirror to you.

      Delete
    33. I have a text from Holy Scripture which is pertinent to this conversation:
      "I visited a bodily dwelling. I cast out the one who was in it first, and I went in. And the whole multitude of the archons became troubled. And all the matter of the archons, as well as all the begotten powers of the earth, were shaken when it saw the likeness of the Image, since it was mixed. And I am the one who was in it, not resembling him who was in it first. For he was an earthly man, but I, I am from above the heavens. I did not refuse them even to become a Christ, but I did not reveal myself to them in the love which was coming forth from me. I revealed that I am a stranger to the regions below."

      Delete
    34. @16:36 There is a point to dealing with MC - it will make Pat see that MC is *only* here to cause trouble, which he has so far resisted acknowledging for (to my mind) misguided charity. Just ignoring MC has been suggested, but I think engaging with him shows his techniques better and will show Pat he has real friends here who are prepared to protect him from the consequences of being charitable to a wolf in the sheepfold.

      Delete
  7. A celibate PP gets 293 pounds a week with free house, light, heat and telephone.I am 26 with a wife and two children. I get 270 pounds a week and pay for my house, light, heat and telephone. Plus, I cant sign Masscards or do weddings, baptisms or funerals. No rich parishioners invites me for dinners or presses 20 pound notes into my hands leaving.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Most priests have on average two degrees and spend six or seven years to reach that stage, i.e. as long as it takes to qualify in medicine. We rarely if ever hear them complain of that discrepancy, because it’s highly unlikely any one of them is in it for the money.

      Delete
    2. Most priests these days do not have any degree. Most priests I know would not have enough brains to become medics. Clogher PP.

      Delete
    3. MourneManMichael28 October 2017 at 11:54

      Anon @ 10:47: "two degrees" Are you seriously mislead, or mischievous?
      I recall posting this comment on another blog about a year or two ago, and it concurs with the comment above by Clogher PP:
      I left the seminary after almost six years "training", and subsequently, without any specific training, was "given" a teaching post in a Catholic primary school. I was generally regarded as a well educated person.
      I subsequently went on to qualifications through studies at Scottish and English universities. Comparing the standard of academic rigour demanded of the seminary and subsequently, I'd say "chalk and cheese"! Numerically, from 10, the seminary demanded 3 to the universities 10. It was basically unquestioning rote learning of philosophy and theology.
      And perhaps therein lies a problem for much of RC clerical training: simply assimilating prescribed teaching as the only reality and not questioning anything: and expecting the "faithful" to do likewise.
      MMM
      MMM

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    4. They mostly do the sem course nowadays.

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    5. With all due respect at 11.54:
      1. That was probably half a century ago.
      2. In the intervening 50 years educational levels have soared. That includes philosophy and theology.
      3. Seminaries today are closely alligned with universities whose programmes are regularly reviewed for QA.

      Delete
    6. If (on top of everything you've stated) you contribute to the financial upkeep of Roman Catholic 'priests', then you're an idiot.

      Delete
    7. 10.33
      From the tone of your posting it sounds as if ‘celibate’ merits special consideration.

      You have the consolation of your wife’s arms every evening when you come home from work and of the patter of little feet.

      If the priest were married with children and you had to contribute to their support you’d have something to complain about.

      Delete
    8. MourneManMichael28 October 2017 at 14:49

      Indeed Anon@ 12:42, it was actually 60+ years ago. I note your comment on subsequent higher standards which is commendable.
      But surely the implications of the demographics of current RC clergy are relevant when considering that many of my former seminary colleagues, now in their 70's are still 'in practice', and, having climbed the clerical hierarchical ladder, are often in positions of power and influence, and as such are regarded as an authority even in many matters outside their religious specialism. And it has been my experience that relatively few of them have continued any academic studies after ordination, and don't see any need for it.
      MMM

      Delete
    9. MMM Your post is full of fancy words and you are trying to show (pathetically) how intellectually you may be superior to anyone else- why choose to do it otherwise. The likes of you and Magna Carta admitting you are ex Seminarians tells us a lot about you. Excuse me whilst I boke. Pat will probably not publish this.

      Delete
    10. MMM - your comments today are very unfair to most priests. Being 40 years ordained, I received a very good education - theologically, academically, spiritually, philosophically, socialky. Not perfect but reasonably good and appropriate for those times. The real learning began when I was assigned to working in parishes. I have endeavoured to update and acquaint myself with modern thinking - theologically, philosophically, socially, psychologically - and spiritually through retreats and seminars. It's difficult to do so when you are the only one in a parish! My primary vocation is my commitment to parishioners and despite all my limitations, vulnerabilities, imperfections and often frail humanity, I try to be faithful to what I've chosen to be and to do, hoping I make some small difference to those within my care. MMM, while I disagree with you on some points, mostly you make valuable contributions and do so with respect for others and in a very insightful and challenging way.

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    11. "Home to your wife's arms every evening.! etc. My God.. unrealistic pie in the sky nonsense! Where did you get your rose-tinted image of family life?! It must have been from the 1950s Bisto ads.!!

      Delete
    12. Ha ha---yes indeed.! More likely to be home to the hurried note that your wife wrapped around the tin opener before she ran out to work a few hours ago herself. Get with the programme, man! (--and I don't mean The Waltons..)

      Delete
    13. MourneManMichael28 October 2017 at 19:21

      Thank you Anon @ 16:17. From your comment I'd say you are a credit to your background and personal efforts and most likely well regarded and respected by your parishoners and indeed non-parishoners you come into contact with.
      As I said in my comment above, I can only go on my own personal experience of the clerics I've met, not too many I'd readily admit.
      What a contrast your measured words are to the ad hominem contribution of the other comment @ 16:04. Thank you.
      MMM

      Delete
  8. Priests like everyone deserves an appropriate wage. In old days I thought grab every quid ya can because of the "pressures" ya are under. Funny how some people can think when the environment they work in is unhealthy and their head is like a box of frogs.

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  9. The point I make at 1.04am is that as self employed people, priests' salaries vary from one Diocese to the next. Money collected at masses is revealed to people and they are told precisely what it's for. There is an annual audit and presentation for our Diocese outlining all income and salaries for priests, a copy of which every priest has and which is available on request by parishioners. No secrecy. In terms of expenditure, all priests are responsible for his day to day living etc...out of his monthly salary. Dues are now forwarded to a Diocesan Fund out of which all priests receive a monthly equitable salary. We pay our taxes accordingly. Stipends are recorded and forwarded to central funds, again for salaries. Mass offerings have to be declared for Revenue and any surplus offerings which a priest cannot fulfill are usually given to missionary religious orders. This is the procedure in Dublin Diocese but each Diocese has a different aporoach. Any cleric that appears wealthy is usually one whose family support him or he may have been left a family inheritance. I've had my tax affairs audited by Revenue under new Charities Act, even though I have an accountancy firm who finalise all my tax affairs. There is need for greater transparency, but the notion that we priests are careless and loose with our finances is totally untrue. After the few days of positive expectation about new beginnings, new life, renewal and new movements of prayer and action, this blog today is counter productive and brings us back to negativity, gossip, unjust assumptions and judgments. The agenda once again "get them"....

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    Replies
    1. You say dues are forwarded to the diocesian fund and you receive an equitable salary... i agree with this in principle but its a total malpractice for people who are self-employed. Revenue should revoke that practice and force the diocese to pay your PRSI thereby ending this type of tax fraud.

      Delete
  10. Every priest should have a full-time job. There should be NO monthly stipend.

    Priests are lazy bastardos. I am proud to say that I don't contribute one penny to their indolent upkeep.

    I certainly don't contribute to Noel Treanor's extravagance.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That you are personally acquainted with every priest in the world in order to be able to make that statement is a feat worthy of recognition in and of itself.

      Delete
    2. CoE has Self Supporting Ministers where clergy carry on in the day job and serve in the local churches as appropriate. There is also the office of Reader where people are licensed to take non Eucharistic Services and preach

      Delete
    3. Pat, would you please curtail that nasty individual at 11:57 using offensive terminology against priests! I thought you were putting a stop to that?

      Delete
    4. Magna, 11.57. An ignorant comment as to be expected. Resorting to your usual abusive, nasty anti-cleric hatred. I thought Pat promised to curtail your malicious thoughts. You certainly show your true colours. We know your thoughts already - tiresome and well rehearsed. Because of your racist, troubled, imbalanced mind, I wouldn't take a penny from you. Ever. You don't deserve compassion. To make your ignorant comment reflects your impoverishment of charity, tolerance and respect. You are a pitiable creature. Hope you never consider joining the Little Brothers...your presence would be a recipe for failure.

      Delete
  11. Alert re 11.57: better not react to the ‘Attention-Seeking Device’ of the previous poster.

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    Replies
    1. Hello Magna, Noel here. You feeling lost and lonely at 12.47. Poor thing. Don't panic. Be calm. Stay off the drink. Be filled with the Spirit - of God!! It helps....

      Delete
    2. And come up to my palace at Lisbreen if you're not at yourself some days.. It has many mansions - - to prepare us for Heaven.

      Delete
    3. Noel, had you been filled with the spirit of the poor Nazarene, you would have morally baulked at the very thought of spending (What was that figure?) up to four million pounds renovating and refurbishing your modest little pile.

      So I don't believe a visit there would teach me anything...except how not to behave.😆

      Delete
    4. Magna, you've surfaced from underneath your rock again. How we enjoy the respite from your humour, wit and imagination!! Hmm...hmm...fool.

      Delete
  12. As a matter of curiosity, does the Oratory and Bishop Buckley produce independently audited accounts for public scrutiny as a model of best practice for others to follow?

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    Replies
    1. The Oratory is not a registered charity or a limited company.

      In my annual self employed tax return I include all my income including the small Sunday collection from our one Mass.

      Delete
    2. Not being a registered charity or a limited company isn’t an impediment to producing independently audited accounts. It would seem unfair to hold others to a level of transparency that you are not adhering to yourself.

      Delete
    3. What about the Little Brothers status? I wonder.

      Delete
    4. Why would two blokes living together in a house need any special "status"?
      That's about the height of it. No need to get ahead of ourselves.

      Delete
  13. '... free accommodation, heat, light and parish phone.'

    Pretty good going. Phone will, presumably, also include internet broadband as well.


    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That could easily add up to an extra £900 a month in normal circumstances.

      Delete
  14. 14:12 I am a self employed, independent priest who does not receive money from parishioners.

    I do not handle vast amounts of money belonging to others.

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    Replies
    1. Without independently audited accounts I suppose we just have to take your word for that.

      Delete
  15. Not forgetting to have a paid housekeeper and gardener it all mounts up as reward. Everything has a price.

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  16. 'DOWN AND CONNOR CLERICAL SALARIES'

    Will we ever get back to the scandals? I wonder.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Clogher P.P. @ 11.09. Somehow your comment is very sarcastic. Most priests I know have degrees including the two with whom I work. All 3 of us are well educated balanced. Think your comment comes from an embittered old cleric - (forgive my ageism!) - the kind of nasty thing you'd say after a late night, not of prayer but of drink!

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    Replies
    1. MourneManMichael29 October 2017 at 01:30

      Anon @ 20:36, consider this, and my earlier comments.
      When I left a major Irish seminary after five and a half years, I was given a teaching post in a local catholic primary school, for I was considered a well educated person.
      And, to my shame, I think that at that stage, I also considered likewise.
      Only years later, after university education elsewhere, did I look back and realise how impoverished my seminary education/training had been.
      Perhaps things have changed from those 60+ years ago. But it is only "your" opinion that, as you say you are all well educated and balanced. I have to wonder how that opinion would stand up to an objective external evaluation.
      You are, of course, entitled to speak from your own experience and perspective. But so too is the Clogher PP, and on my experience, I know whose assessment I prefer.
      MMM
      MMM

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  18. Personally I am surprised at how low the priests salaries are. In New Zealand other than one diocese priests would be paid more than this with their monthly stipend being around $1000 +, of course free house and utilities, plus an annual $6000 - 8000 for their car (this is depreciation, servicing, insurance), petrol is paid for by the parish, a house account which covers food - hospitality and booze (some diocese this is capped but others not), medical is covered by the clergy trust fund, and most diocese do a return trip to anywhere in the world every five years. On top of that Christmas dues belong to the priests of the parish and mass intentions are for the priest. In some of the diocese the stole fees and any supply must be paid over to the clergy trust fund.

    I do believe in parts of Australia the remuneration is even greater and in parts of the USA even greater again.

    Personally I have no issue with this as long as the priest is using his money appropriately which is a matter between he and his employer/bishop (I know strictly speaking the bishop isn't the employer but coworker but as far as the law in NZ he is the employer), and ultimately God.

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    Replies
    1. This is not New Zealand. right?

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    2. I was just giving it as a comparison thanks Casper

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  19. To poster who asks "Will we ever get back to the scandals?" I say... why not buy yourself a copy of Sunday World newspaper or some other muck - raking red top excuse of a paper?

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  20. To poster who asks "Will we ever get back to the scandals?" I say... why not buy yourself a copy of Sunday World newspaper or some other muck - raking red top excuse of a paper?

    ReplyDelete