Would you work for the Church?

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Again, I don’t want equivocation.

Let’s talk turkey.

Let’s say were talking about a Secretary at the Parish office and living in Illinois.
 
Spyridon said:
Again, I don’t want equivocation.

Let’s talk turkey.

Let’s say were talking about a Secretary at the Parish office and living in Illinois.
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Chicago or rural IL? It makes a HUGE difference.

You “don’t want equivocation” but just wage is WAY more than a number. 90k salary will get you a 300sqft hovel studio in a tenement in NYC but would be enough for a family of 8 to live off of in rural midwestern US.
 
We’re not negotiating a contract or writing a doctoral thesis in economics.

We’re having a conversation on an internet forum. Use ball park figures.

In your opinion, would somebody working as a parish secretary in suburban IL near Chicago at a normal 40 hrs a week making $25,000 a year be a fair wage?
 
Spyridon said:
We’re not negotiating a contract or writing a doctoral thesis in economics.

We’re having a conversation on an internet forum. Use ball park figures.

In your opinion, would somebody working as a parish secretary in suburban IL near Chicago at a normal 40 hrs a week making $25,000 a year be a fair wage?
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I have no idea about the stats surrounding what a fair wage is in Chicago. Wages range from 20k to 45k depending on experiance, duties, pt vs ft.

Look if you want to make a thread about what the $$ of the living wage consists of then start your own thread. This is about weither or not the church has a duty to pay a living wage.
 
Due to your refusal to answer a simple theoretical question combined with repeated equivocations, I’m gonna go ahead and assume that to you a “fair wage” is actually an upper-middle class wage.

What I would consider a fair wage you’d probably consider an insulting wage.

Maybe the Church has an idea of a fair wage which does not line up with your personal idea of a fair wage?
 
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Spyridon said:
Due to your refusal to answer a simple theoretical question combined with repeated equivocations, I’m gonna go ahead and assume that to you a “fair wage” is actually an upper-middle class wage.

What I would consider a fair wage you’d probably consider an insulting wage.

Maybe the Church has an idea of a fair wage which does not line up with your personal idea of a fair wage?
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No, you’re trying to talk in circles. A fair wage is highly dependant on where you live. One can look up the COL data and analyze the breakdown for any one city or place. One can judge a salary based on the salaries for a similar NPO. If you want to discuss the specifications of a fair wage, again, start your on thread.

This is about the very concept.

Does the church have an obligation to pay a fair wage?
 
Pay is lower when working for any non-profit. In some states those who work for the Church or a parish School do not have the safety net of collecting unemployment should their job end.

Church/Parish work compensation, environment, the amount of volunteer hours you are expected to put in over and above your paid time, etc is going to vary widely from Diocese to Diocese, parish to parish and even pastor to pastor.
 
You’re talking to a disabled Veteran who lives off 12k a year.

A lot of Americans have a very skewed idea of poverty.

I’m sorry but if you’re pulling in 80 grand a year, you aint poor.

I grew up with a family that routinely survived off $30,000 a year with two adults and two kids…

When our neighbors making $75k a year would cry poverty it would drive us bonkers.
 
I would not want to work for the Church. My background is in education and during my time as a protestant, I worked at my church’s school. The politics of it all really soured me towards the congregation and I wouldn’t want to risk that happening.

My friend is a librarian (with a master’s degree) and makes a very insulting wage working for a Catholic institution. She has told me she would make more than twice as much if she went elsewhere. To me, paying someone with a grad degree $30k is outrageous.
 
Spyridon said:
You’re talking to a disabled Veteran who lives off 12k a year.

A lot of Americans have a very skewed idea of poverty.

I’m sorry but if you’re pulling in 80 grand a year, you aint poor.

I grew up with a family that routinely survived off $30,000 a year with two adults and two kids…

When our neighbors making $75k a year would cry poverty it would drive us bonkers.
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80k depends very, very much on where you live. Like it or not, depending on social supports it can depend very greatly on what can be afforded.

12k a year would not even cover a rented room in my area…nevermind everything else one needs to live.
 
The bottom line question you asked, “does the Church have an obligation to pay a fair wage”, that’s an obvious and emphatic YES.
 
I’m guessing you live in an incredibly cheap part of the country if you survive off of $12k. Here, that wouldn’t even pay for a year’s rent for a studio apartment.
 
Rosalie said:
I would not want to work for the Church. My background is in education and during my time as a protestant, I worked at my church’s school. The politics of it all really soured me towards the congregation and I wouldn’t want to risk that happening.

My friend is a librarian (with a master’s degree) and makes a very insulting wage working for a Catholic institution. She has told me she would make more than twice as much if she went elsewhere. To me, paying someone with a grad degree $30k is outrageous.
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Totally agree.

To me, the CC should at least be near what another NPO of a similar size, serving a similar population.

It often seems that this is not the case because it expects people to work for less or simply volunteer specific skills with no expected compensation.
 
I’ve got a cosy 1 bedroom apartment with everything included (utilities and stuff) for $750.00 a month.

New Hampshire

And actually on second thought, my actual yearly incomes probably more like 15k
 
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The church doesn’t make much money. Obviously this depends on the parish how much money you can make I guess
 
Spyridon said:
I’ve got a cosy 1 bedroom apartment with everything included (utilities and stuff) for $750.00 a month.
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Great for you. But that literally dosn’t exist where I live. 750 would get you an 10x10 basement room in someone’s run-down house where you share the bathroom, living room and kitchen with a half dozen other people and still owe for electric, gas, internet, etc.
 
Thanks for the laugh, I litterally laughed out loud at your description - I imagined a little dungeon prison cell type thing lol.
 
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Spyridon said:
Thanks for the laugh, I litterally laughed out loud at your description - I imagined a little dungeon prison cell type thing lol.
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It’s true though. I had a 3rd story attic studio apartment when I first started out. 800+ utilities. It was about 500sqft only about 3x6 feet of which you could actually stand up in. And I “lucked out”

And gave my neighbors $5 a month to use their internet.
 
Exactly. To me, her situation of being paid $30k when she has at least 6 years of post secondary education and is working at a job that would otherwise pay $65k at bare minimum is exploitative at best.
 
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