The Sunday morning news. [volume] (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1886-1891, 1889-12-08
THEPAY OFqHE PRIESTS
What the Catholic ClergyRe-
ceive, and How 1t Is Paid.
THE BISHOP FIXES SALARIES.
1t Is the Same Through the
Newark Diocese = The
Jesuit Vow of Poverty.

filing their pulpits the model system
Of the Catholic Church in matters of
church economy would be welcome re-
lief. Ii that system were adopted by
them the churchmen in want of a pastor
would not be perplexed with the question
whether they could afford to meet the
extravagart expectation of some eloquent
divine whose especial ministRations they
wished to secure. They would simply
submit the matter of his compensation to
the almost autocratic dictums of the
bishop, and his ruling in the case would
be supreme.
This system would, however, be as pro-
ductive of dissatisfaction among the
highly paid. clergy OF the Protestant
churches Us it would be a matter of re
lief from the necessity for perplexing de-
vice by the high paying parisnioner.
THE BISHOP FIXES SALARIES.
The pastors of the fourteen Catholic
churches within the precinct of Jersey
City, and those of the tiftyeodd churches
that are under the diocesan jurisdiction
of Bishop Wtgger, look to that ecclesi-
astical dignitary not only as their imme.
diate spiritual head, but also as the tenn
poral authority whose Judgment is final
in fixing the money compensation they
are to receive in exchange for their labors
in the spiritual vineyards OF the church.
To the Protestant Clergyman, who looks
TO the Bishop as merely the commanding
figure of canonical dignity. and is left TO
adjust, by the rules of commercial usage,
the matter OF how much his individual
service for expounding the divine doctrine
is worth, this interference by the Bishop
in matters of individual interest may
seem particularly meddlesome. To Catho-
lie clergymen it is regarded in the line of
VII II nexAa tNf with or faI mi = of
the church and as absolute justice 10
themselves.
The emoluments of the pastors of the
Catholic churches have no reference, as is
the practice in Protestant churches, to
the size or wealth of the congregations to
which they minister. The priest who
? dons the chasuble and turns the leaves of
the breyiary and missal in the most -four
ishing parish in thediocese, and who mini
listers to the spiritualswantS OF the pam
pered favorites of fortune, is bound by
the arbitrary rules of the church to con-
tent himself with the same remuneration
the humble pastor of the most impover-
ished parish in the community receives
THE PAY ALLOWED HERE.
The fourteen pastors in Jersey City, as
do all the other pastors in the diocese, re-
ceive yearly compensation of 81 900, In
many of the parishes the magnitude of
the labor that's made necessary by their
they are engaged, from one to three as
sistant pastors OF churches are necessary,
and these laboring candidates for full
pastoral honQrs are the recipients of six
hundred dollars yearly.
In other parishes where the exactions
on the strength and endurance of the
pastor are at the minimum and the finan-
cial possibilities of the parishioners are
limited, the cost of maintaining curate is
dispensed with.
The pastor in any parish is permitted
to take from the members of his floek, in
addition to his fixed salary, certain sums
that may be- presented to him as ,gratu7
tiles. This is the fee that is paid for a
special mass, a Wedding or a baptism,
and is styled an honofdriunl. Like the
corresponding fee in any other religious
sect it is a free gift and the personal
property of the pastor.
Each pastoFate is an incorporated BODY
and is governed by board of five trus-
tees. The board consists of the bishop
of the diocese and the vicar general, who
are ex-officio members of the board of
every parish in the diocese.
The other three members are the pastor
and two lay members of the church. The
pastor Is. by virtue of his office, the treas
urer of the corporation.
are paid out of the funds collected for
parish purposes; and the proceeds of
honoraTilt,n fees, though the personal
property of the pastors, are used to de-
fray thesexpense of maintaining tho par
sonage and the personal dependents of
the priest The surplus of collections,
that are not required for other purposes
of the church at large, are at the disposal
of the Board of Trustees, and may, with
the sanction of the bishop of the diocese,
be expended for any purpose that they
elect.
The revenues of every parish are under
the direct supervision of the bishop of the
diocese, who controls every detail in the
pasterates under his jurisdiction; and the
pastors of every church are required to
make yearly report of receipts and dis
bursements to the diocesan chancellor.
SUPPORTING THE BIsHoPRrc
The state and dignity of the Bishopare
maintained, not by any fixed yearly com
pensation, but is regulated by the wealth
of the church bodies in the diocese. The
churches, according to their general well
fare, are required to pay for, the support
of the ecclesiastical dignity of the
bishopric stated yearly sum,
This may run from ten dollars in a
single parish to five hundred dollars. In
the case of st. Michaels, on Third street.
the yearly sum paid for this purpose is
$3.50. In some impoverished parish in the
country districts the exaction may be
merely nominal and in the case OF some
none Is paid or expected.
But the rule OF q yearly compensation
for the exercise of The priestly function
applies only to that order of pastor in
the church who are known as the lay
clergy. These are the priests who are
under the direct authority of the spiritual
head of tho Church of Rome, and who
have not taken the special vows, and
consequently are not amenable to the
special rules of that class of the clergy
who are distinguished as the regular
clergy. This latter class of priests are
those who belong to the Society Of
Jesus, 1.-THE Passionist Fathers, "Bene-
dictine Monks.p Franciscan Monks, y
and various other orders who, in addition
to thesvows of chastity and holiness, have
taken the vow Of extreme poverty.
ETERNAL POVERTY.
To this latter class of priests Father
Cassidy, of st. Peters Church. on Grand
street, belongs. Though he exercises the
pricstly Office in that church, he does not,
like his fellow-workers, the lay pastors
receive penny for compensation. The
VOWS of his order, by,which he is bound,
forbid his handling copper for direct
personal expenditure. He does not own
even the vesture that covers him, and he
is subject to the austere regimen of an
order that counts personal abasement for
the advancement of the faith as the duty
of its votaries.
The Order of Jesuits is sort of an
fnlperil9n tn fn1periO; for It's organization
is r0rxftlafa a nd fiisfi.fcr from, haf nf th d