Pope Rethinks Priesthood Celibacy

[SteveVH]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't Catholic priests paid for their service? Isn't it their career?

They are paid at a subsistance level. Obviously they have to eat and have a roof over their head and clothes to wear. They certainly aren't in it for the money. As I have said previously, most orders of priests take vows of poverty. No one gets into this because they are paid. That is one of the tough decisions made by each seminarian. Am I willing to give up those things that another career would give me?

I know it isn't much, but if that is their source of employment as well as their service to God, I'm not sure that they'd be overworked in the same way as the lay ministry of Mormonism.

Spend just one week with a priest and you will change your view, I promise.

But, yes, Catholics would need to pony up a bit to help them support a family.

And the money used for this is money that would not get to the poor and needy or used to train seminarians, or to build hospitals, or to provide counseling... the list goes on and on.

Edited March 22, 2013 by StephenVH

[Guest]

In the Latin Rite, only, not in the Eastern Rite. Granted, that includes most Catholic priests but it says a lot about the nature of the discipline.

My apologies. I still have this strange habit of saying Catholic to mean ONLY Roman Catholics. Growing up in the Philippines, it's Roman Catholic or it's a "say what?". LOL.

[Guest]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't Catholic priests paid for their service? Isn't it their career?

I know it isn't much, but if that is their source of employment as well as their service to God, I'm not sure that they'd be overworked in the same way as the lay ministry of Mormonism.

But, yes, Catholics would need to pony up a bit to help them support a family.

No, they are not paid for their service. Basically, the Vatican does not issue them a "paycheck" in exchange for labor or knowledge.

The money they receive is so that they can eat, have clothes to wear, have healthcare, travel, have some technology like a phone and the like, and have some petty cash to run the parish without having to burden the parishioners with the cost of keeping a priest alive or have the priest have to figure out how to earn money in the labor force to keep himself alive. Of course, most parishioners take care of their priests but the Catholic Church has it set up so that the priests do not need to be dependent on the good graces of its parishioners for the priest's entire life.

Edited March 22, 2013 by anatess

[pam]

No, they are not paid for their service. Basically, the Vatican does not issue them a "paycheck" in exchange for labor or knowledge.

The money they receive is so that they can eat, have clothes to wear, have healthcare, travel, have some technology like a phone and the like, and have some petty cash to run the parish without having to burden the parishioners with the cost of keeping a priest alive or have the priest have to figure out how to earn money in the labor force to keep himself alive. Of course, most parishioners take care of their priests but the Catholic Church has it set up so that the priests do not need to be dependent on the good graces of its parishioners for the priest's entire life.

So kind of like the stipend our GA's get?

[Guest]

So kind of like the stipend our GA's get?

Exactly. Except our GA's get a stipend to supplement their personal assets whereas a priest has no personal assets.

[SteveVH]

My apologies. I still have this strange habit of saying Catholic to mean ONLY Roman Catholics. Growing up in the Philippines, it's Roman Catholic or it's a "say what?". LOL.

Not a problem. Nearly everyone, understandably, thinks of the Latin Rite when speaking of the Catholic Church and it does comprise the great majority of Catholics. :)