Financial ecumenism

[ursusanglicanus]

I am not a great fan of the Church of England. Its average level of spirituality fails to impress, which is why I am in Orthodoxy.

But one thing I do miss is the Anglican approach to money. This I find far superior to the Russian model. Priests all get a pretty standard salary, paid centrally. Each church knows at the beginning of the year how much

Comments

[golovinvlad]

I really do not understand. If priests all recieve salary, so why they need fees?
By the way, what is is usual monthly salary?

[ursusanglicanus]

The fees, as I understand it go into the general 'big pot', from which salaries and buildings maintenance are paid. (Priests are not paid by the state).

The salary figures I picked up on the net are:
Curates: £14,680-£15,820
Parish clergy: £16,420
Cathedral-based canons: £20,200
Junior bishops: £24,790
Diocesan bishops: £30,120
Archbishop of Canterbury: £55,660

These are 6 years old, so add another 15% or so for inflation. OK, priests normally have free housing, but this is not riches if you are raising a family.

But more to the point, a church building can be hideously expensive to keep in order - repairs, heating etc. From the notices I see in church buildings, for a medium-sized 15th century church (and there are an awful lot of them around), you are easily talking £ 25,000 a year. The cost of a cathedral, excluding clergy, is more than £ 1 million a year.

[priest_ali]

Is it gross or net income? Anyway, it is not much at all. If I undeerstand it correctly, a good programmer easily earns as much as a diocesan bishop.

[ursusanglicanus]

Gross - though tax does not bit as hard in the lower income range in the UK as it does in Belgium or Holland, and there is free housing and some sort of car allowance.

It used to be worse - 40 years ago, when I considered priesthood, this was a road to (genteel) poverty. I have heard that marrying pious women from wealthier families was one way out of the trap, especially for a priest expected to function at the higher end of the social ladder.

The real financial problem today is schooling - every priest with a family is desperate to be sent to a part of the country where secondary schooling is still good (i.e. normally with separate grammar schools and not cmprehensives)and free.

Offtop: who, if any, of the gang went to Perwijze yesterday?

[priest_ali]

There were the following guest clergymen from our diocese: Archbishop Simon, Fr. Andrei, Fr. Georgy, protodeacon Alexander, deacons Victor (Leuven) and Vladimir (Ostend) and myself. There was another priest from the jusisdiction of Constantinople whose name I unfortunately forgot.

There were many people from different origins: like locals, russians, greek etc.

I was there for the first time and it was good to go there and see. I liked it. After all, it is the only monastery we have.