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Through_Him
Guest
Can a priest own property? A house? What if his family left him some land or house or cottage on a lake?
- Status
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Cruikshank_s
Guest
Yes, priests may own property along with credit cards and every worldly pleasure you could think of. The difference though is that they really shouldn’t. Priests ought to live at the very least in the spirit of poverty. Not every priest takes a vow of poverty, hence owning luxury things is possible, but every priest must live his life in an imitation of Christ, who lived in poverty on earth awaiting the treasures of heaven. So in conclusion, yes he may, but no he shouldn’t.
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Cruikshank_s
Guest
Yes they can, provided they have not taken a vow of poverty. But I think it wise to remember that our priests must live their entire lives in an imitation of Christ. That, by its nature entails poverty. And so I would think and expect all priests would strive to at the very least live in the spirit of poverty. I don’t know how luxurious this land or lake house is, but in any case, I think overt luxury ought to be avoided by our holy priests. Their treasure lies elsewhere. Remember:
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Joannm
Guest
My pastor owns the house his parents left him and he spends his time there on his days off and plans to retire there. I know several priests who own vacation homes and one who even own rental property and gets an income from that. These are diocesan priests not vowed religious priests. There are also priests I know who own boats, time shares, go on fantastic vacations, and other extravagant things. I don’t have a problem with that as long as they are basically living within their means and are not using parish contributions to buy these things.
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Phemie
Guest
Yes, unless he belongs to a Congregation or Order where he has taken a vow of poverty. I believe in that case the property left to him would become the Congregation/Order’s property.
The pastor who married us and baptized our first two children built himself a house on the waterfront and didn’t stay in the rectory after office hours, telling the parish that he was entitled to his privacy and time off just like everyone else.
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SourGrape
Guest
Your post reminded me of that Franciscan-Jesuit joke. A Franciscan priest a few weeks ago, shared it with the congregation during his homily. In case some of you haven’t heard it yet:My pastor owns the house his parents left him and he spends his time there on his days off and plans to retire there. I know several priests who own vacation homes and one who even own rental property and gets an income from that. These are diocesan priests not vowed religious priests. There are also priests I know who own boats, time shares, go on fantastic vacations, and other extravagant things. I don’t have a problem with that as long as they are basically living within their means and are not using parish contributions to buy these things.
**A man walked up to a Franciscan and Jesuit and asked, “How many novenas must you say to get a Mercedes Benz?”
The Franciscan asked, “What’s a Mercedes Benz?”
The Jesuit asked, “What’s a novena?”**
Ah, it always makes me chuckle
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Angel_Bradford
Guest
:extrahappy:Your post reminded me of that Franciscan-Jesuit joke. A Franciscan priest a few weeks ago, shared it with the congregation during his homily. In case some of you haven’t heard it yet:
**A man walked up to a Franciscan and Jesuit and asked, “How many novenas must you say to get a Mercedes Benz?” **
**The Franciscan asked, “What’s a Mercedes Benz?” **
The Jesuit asked, "What’s a novena?"
Ah, it always makes me chuckle
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Paul2274
Guest
OOOOHHHH!! That is such a good one…Your post reminded me of that Franciscan-Jesuit joke. A Franciscan priest a few weeks ago, shared it with the congregation during his homily. In case some of you haven’t heard it yet:
**A man walked up to a Franciscan and Jesuit and asked, “How many novenas must you say to get a Mercedes Benz?”
The Franciscan asked, “What’s a Mercedes Benz?”
The Jesuit asked, “What’s a novena?”**
Ah, it always makes me chuckle
Paul
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Andreas_Hofer
Guest
There is no problem with a priest (who is not vowed to poverty) owning property. But when it starts to get to owning fancy things or taking extravagant trips, there is a problem. It’s not just that priests ought in principle to imitate Jesus’ poverty. It’s that they are canonically bound to live *simply. *Now, if a priest is stocking up money for his retirement that doesn’t mean we can look at his bottom line and say he is worth altogether too much, but if his lifestyle couldn’t reasonably be described as simple (not Amish plain, just reasonably frugal and simple) then he’s living beyond what he is supposed to.
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Through_Him
Guest
Than you for all your replies. One priest does own a cottage and another owns nothing. I think that he has taken a vow of poverty. I think the ones in our cluster own their own vehicles. Or they lease. I always thought that a priest had to as an imperative to be a priest to take a vow of poverty. My misconception. There are a group of priests, four or five I think that are retired that live in Madison but they still fill in. They live in a big house together sharing their duties, but I don’t know who owns the house. It doesn’t really matter. I believe they also live there or decided to retire there to pray for that poor city that is becoming a capital for abortion.
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Joe_Kelley
Guest
A couple of years ago the priests in this diocese were given a small raise and required to buy their own cars, as opposed to having the parish own them. It was because of a liability issue.
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Phemie
Guest
In our diocese the secular priests have their own cars and as part of their salary are paid a car allowance. The religious priests use cars belonging to the diocese and the parishes are responsible for the gas, maintenance, registration and insurance.
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CatintheHat
Guest
I tried to tell that joke to my fiance (who’s gone to Jesuit schools his whole life) and his response was, “Cute. Seriously, though, what’s a novena?”Your post reminded me of that Franciscan-Jesuit joke. A Franciscan priest a few weeks ago, shared it with the congregation during his homily. In case some of you haven’t heard it yet:
**A man walked up to a Franciscan and Jesuit and asked, “How many novenas must you say to get a Mercedes Benz?”
The Franciscan asked, “What’s a Mercedes Benz?”
The Jesuit asked, “What’s a novena?”**
Ah, it always makes me chuckle
You can take the boy out of the Jesuit schools but you can’t take the Jesuit schools out of the boy…- Status