Complex sentence: Those employed for the position were given a three-foot-long whip and a pair of dog tongs to keep stray dogs off of church grounds and to prevent communion bread and priests from being molested.
Split into simpler sentences: Those employed for the position were given a three-foot-long whip and a pair of dog tongs with which to remove the animals. They were tasked with keeping stray dogs off of church grounds and preventing communion bread and priests from being molested.