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gazelam
Guest
For the record, an LDS Bishop receives no salary from the LDS church for his effort.
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JustaServant
Guest
…AND for the record, The average priest makes under $35,000 per year.
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pianistclare
Guest
Ha! WAY under!
I believe the article most likely refers to televangelists…or some sampling of mega-churches.
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Xantippe
Guest
Depending on the area, a $1.7 million home might actually be surprisingly modest.
There’s an old internet quiz called “Crack Shack or Mansion” which asks the user to try to guess if a Vancouver-area home is a million dollar home or a crack shack:
crackshackormansion.com/part2.html
It’s actually really hard! A million dollars was virtually the floor for prices when that quiz was put together.
More recently, the price of a single-family home in Vancouver hit $1.47 million.
theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/housing/the-real-estate-beat/vancouver-house-prices-jump-20-per-cent-to-average-147-million/article26197722/
That’s Canadian dollars, but still…
There’s an old internet quiz called “Crack Shack or Mansion” which asks the user to try to guess if a Vancouver-area home is a million dollar home or a crack shack:
crackshackormansion.com/part2.html
It’s actually really hard! A million dollars was virtually the floor for prices when that quiz was put together.
More recently, the price of a single-family home in Vancouver hit $1.47 million.
theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/economy/housing/the-real-estate-beat/vancouver-house-prices-jump-20-per-cent-to-average-147-million/article26197722/
That’s Canadian dollars, but still…
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Usige
Guest
That completely depends on the diocese. Religious priest essentially make nothing, but even 10 years ago diocesan priest in my area were making 50k a year. I seem to remember hearing that they made more than that a few years back, but I don’t remember how much more. That being said, most parishes in my area have not had rectories until the past couple years, so the priest had to pay to rent an apartment or house near the church. To make it fair, priests that did live in a church owned rectory still had to pay rent to live in the rectory. The “high salary” was to offset the cost of living.
One item of note; in my diocese, priest get paid the same regardless if they are in a parish of 300 or 8000 people. The parish doesn’t pay the salary, but rather every parish pays into a pool and the diocese covers there salary. So more affluent parishes “subsidize” the salary of priests at poorer parishes in a way.
All that being said, Catholic priest are generally not pulling in 6 or 7 figure salaries.
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Lily_Bernans
Guest
I think the article is referring to televangelists, too, who make so much money because they prey on the fears and sorrows of the general population. Shame on them! People do not need to send them money, though. Still, preying on the vulnerable is a great sin to me. The evangelists will have to answer to God.
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Crusaderbear
Guest
Yup, tele evangelism is big business - there will always be those who try and buy their way into heaven.
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Usige
Guest
Ha! WAY under!
I believe the article most likely refers to televangelists…or some sampling of mega-churches.
I don’t thinks it’s televangelist per se, but likely is pastors of mega churches. Since most non-denominational churches are completely independent they hire and fire the pastor at will. I know a former colleague that became a protestant minister has financial goals for the church written into his employment contract. If he is under the goal too many times his contract can be terminated. If the church does well he can request more money with his new contract.
When you start talking about mega churches it is quite possible that the pastor can argue that their preaching brought in 2000 more people with 2 million in additional collections so they “deserve” some percentage of the “cut”. Since non-denominational churches often thrive or wither based on the charisma of the preacher it would make sense to hire and retain the best person in the “business”. If that means forking over 1.5 mil to keep 20+ mill flowing to the church it would seem to make business sense.
I don’t think it’s right, but it would seem to make sense in the model of mega churches.
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7_Sorrows
Guest
I agree.
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acadiANNA
Guest
To my knowledge, this is a non-issue in the Catholic Church concerning clergy and religious.
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phil19034
Guest
Priests that are making $50K per year have a second job (paid Hospital Chaplain, jobs with the diocese, school teacher or administrator, professor, college research, paid speaker, author, councilor, etc). Some priests do these 2nd jobs for money to help support their parents, etc. or to pay off college loans.
However, some people have said they total packages is worth $45K - $50K depending on the kind of Rectory the parish has for them.
But the true is that diocesan priests & bishops really only make between $21 - $35K (depending on their diocese and role) for their role as priest. Deacons make nothing (unless their “day job” is working for a parish, diocese, or another profession Catholic job).
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phil19034
Guest
To the OP, it is also not uncommon for Jewish Rabbis to make over $200,000 per year.
But you can’t just look at the money. You must take the cost of living into consideration, housing allowance, etc.
Clergy with children should be able to make enough money to take care of their families. But they should not be making some much of their congregation to be considered rich.
If a pastor makes $500K a year due to books and speaking arrangements outside of his local congregation, then more power to him. God will be the judge to insure he’s doing what he should be doing. However, making $500K a year directly from one’s own congregation is too much.
But you can’t just look at the money. You must take the cost of living into consideration, housing allowance, etc.
Clergy with children should be able to make enough money to take care of their families. But they should not be making some much of their congregation to be considered rich.
If a pastor makes $500K a year due to books and speaking arrangements outside of his local congregation, then more power to him. God will be the judge to insure he’s doing what he should be doing. However, making $500K a year directly from one’s own congregation is too much.
Not as a salary, no.
However, I have no issue with a skilled televangelist, pastor, or even diocesan priest (religious priests are bound to poverty) making millions on something they know how to market, such as writing good books that sell well. If a religious figure can pull off something quite popular and makes money off of it, then good for him. They deserve every penny of their royalties.
However, I have no issue with a skilled televangelist, pastor, or even diocesan priest (religious priests are bound to poverty) making millions on something they know how to market, such as writing good books that sell well. If a religious figure can pull off something quite popular and makes money off of it, then good for him. They deserve every penny of their royalties.
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7_Sorrows
Guest
I am sure John Corapi made a lot of money over the years from his books, CD’s and videos.
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Phemie
Guest
That vow of poverty has to be understood in the context of the Order or Congregation to which they belong. Unless they are mendicants, the poverty is understood to be personal poverty – they own nothing, all is held in common by the community. Some live very simply, some live very comfortable lives depending on what their members do.
Depending on the order/congregation they turn any monies they make over to the community and they are given money as they need it. The young deacon we had signed his stipend over to his bursar every month. Although he was an Oblate like the priests who served our parish, he belonged to a different Province with different rules from those imposed by the Province to which the priests belonged. Their Province allowed them to have a bank account and keep their stipends. They were supposed to turn anything over $5,000 to their bursar. They paid for their own trips for retreats and such; the deacon, OTOH, would have had them purchased for him by the bursar.
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cmodrmac
Guest
Having served on a search committee for a new Priest-the going rate for an episcopal Priests is around 90K -the going rate for an Orthodox Priest is about 125K -they have families -they do a busy stressful job with long and irregular hours - no need to begrudge them their salaries
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Usige
Guest
This is what the diocesan paper had in an article from Dec 1, 2004 about changes starting in 2005:Each diocesan priest will receive $50,000 annually. That amount includes both the priest’s salary and his housing allowance. A priest may choose to purchase his own home, or rent the parish rectory to which he is assigned, Doerfler said.
Mr Doerfler is the Financial Officer for the diocese. So in the diocese it was 50k 11 - 12 years ago. The year previous (2004) it was 46,350 according to the article. This is not for additional work outside their assignment. That is paid out of other funds (i.e. fire departments and prisons pay chaplains stipends, not the diocese). None of our priests are rich, but they make enough to plan for retirement. That is a good thing in my opinion. Perhaps there are more “perks” in other diocese so they reduce their salary, but our diocesan priests are not making the wages of entry level skilled labor. Also keep in mind that a priest making 35k in rural Georgia is likely as well, if not better off, than a priest making 50 - 60k in Seattle. Much of it depends on what come out of his pocket; in my area it’s basically everything someone in secular employment would cover (food, utilities, housing, medical insurance, retirement, etc).
And before anyone goes off on priest in my area having it too good, please remember that they are often turning over significant portions of their income to charity or are paying to support retired religious that did not have their own funds to retire once their order essentially died out or could not support them. Just because they make a decent salary does not mean they aren’t living the gospel.
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pianistclare
Guest
Well, clearly that’s not how it is here.
The parish supplies the housing.
The priest gets a food allowance.
He buys his own car, but gets fleet insurance through the Diocese.
They make provision for their own retirement.
Everything else is out of his pocket.
Some things can be turned in as expenses, like mileage.
The parish supplies the housing.
The priest gets a food allowance.
He buys his own car, but gets fleet insurance through the Diocese.
They make provision for their own retirement.
Everything else is out of his pocket.
Some things can be turned in as expenses, like mileage.
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Alex_H
Guest
Do the popes and cardinals make a lot of money? I have heard that they live in palaces, though this might not be true.
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