What Support is Available to Diocesan Priests?

While each person is ultimately responsible for his own happiness, diocesan priests have at their disposal a generous array of personal and professional support.

Laity

Without priests, the church would not be able to carry out all those things which are at the very heart of her mission. The priesthood then is a gift to the church as a whole, a benefit to her life and mission. The Church, therefore, is called to safeguard this gift, to esteem it, and to love it. The laity, for their part, should realize their obligations toward their priests, and with love they should follow them as shepherds and fathers.

The Bishop

The bishop should always extend a special love and concern for his priests since they assume, in part, the bishop's own duties and cares and carry the weight of them day by day. He should be concerned about his priests' spiritual, intellectual, and material condition, so that they can live holy lives and fulfill their ministry faithfully and effectively. Special attention should be paid to those who are in any sort of danger or who have failed in some respect.

Fellow Priests

In virtue of their common sacred ordination and mission, all priests are bound together in an ultimate brotherhood. Each and every priest, therefore, is joined to his brother priests by a bond of love, prayer and every kind of cooperation. Older priests should receive younger priests as true brothers and give them a hand with their first assignments in ministry. Young priests should respect the age and experience of their seniors. Priests should be especially solicitous toward fellow priests who are sick, afflicted, overburdened with work, lonely, away from their homeland or who have failed in some way. Priests should be encouraged to develop some kind of communal life, a shared roof where this is feasible, or a common table, or at least frequent and regular gatherings.

Family and Friends

Celibacy does not preclude warm friendships and appropriate intimate relationships. Priests need and value the friendship of lay men and lay women, Catholic and non-Catholic. Married couples and their families play a key role in the lives of many priests. Families - parents, aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews and cousins - form an important support system for priests throughout their priesthood. Priests are encouraged to visit their families, spend holidays with them, and stay involved in their lives.

Financial Compensation

A diocesan priest does not take a vow of poverty, but receives a salary and benefits so that he can live modestly, buy and maintain a car, take a vacation, give to charities, and save for his retirement. All diocesan priests in the Archdiocese receive the same salary depending on years of service after ordination, whether he serves in a small mission church, a large suburban parish, or an agency of the diocese. The average salary is $25,000 a year. Besides a salary, a priest receives room and board, an annual retreat fee, and an annual continuing education fee.

In addition, the church pays into a retirement annuity fund for the priests. Since diocesan priests are expected to plan for their own retirement needs, this annuity fund is part of that planning.

Office of Clergy Personnel

The Office of Clergy Personnel exists to assist the Archbishop in the appointment of priests to parishes, offices, institutions and other Archdiocesan ministries, as well as to provide a process in which the individual priest is part of the decision.

Continuing Formation of the Clergy Office

The Continuing Formation of the Clergy Office exists to give priests a variety of opportunities to learn more about themselves, learn new pastoral skills, and to deepen their insights into ministry. Each year a variety of workshops, conventions, printed materials, and classes are sponsored or recommended. This office publishes a "priest newsletter," with news and information about what’s going on in the lives of other priests in the archdiocese. Each priest receives a generous yearly stipend to help him accept responsibility for his continued growth as a person and as a minister.

Clergy Health Panel

The Clergy Health Panel is there to assist priests who are in need of help with chemical dependency and other addictions.

Priests’ Council

The Priests’ Council is a group of priests elected by their fellow priests to represent their concerns in a forum of full and free discussion of the issues pertaining to their pastoral work. This representative group helps the archbishop by offering counsel about the pastoral work of the archdiocese from its pool of experience and wisdom. Discussion takes place in 13 regional groups and 5 peer groups. Each regional and peer group sends representatives to the Priests’ Council. Members are also elected at large, and representatives from religious communities of men join these discussions. There is a national group of priests from Priest Councils from all over the country who meet in an annual convention to share their wisdom and work on common issues.

Vicar for Clergy

The Vicar for Clergy, a priest of the archdiocese, acts as the archbishop’s personal representative to the retired priests of the diocese. This priest assists retired priests in dealing with their medical, housing, ministry and social needs.

Bishop David Apartments

Bishop David Apartments are available to those retired priests who wish to live in close proximity with other retired priests. Diocesan priests, however, are free to work out their own retirement living in any way they choose.

Presbyteral Assembly

Each year, all the priests of the archdiocese go to Saint Meinrad Seminary and Archabbey in southern Indiana for a week-long Presbyteral Assembly with the Archbishop. This week is a combination of relaxation, prayer, team building, celebration, discussions, education, and renewal. Various priests from within the diocese are asked to share their wisdom, as well as priests, religious and laypeople from outside the diocese.

Support Groups

Support groups are encouraged. Groups of priests freely choose to band together for mutual support in various areas of the diocese. These groups might gather together on their off day for recreation, or they might gather monthly for mutual support. They may take the form of prayer groups or one of the twelve step groups.

Annual Retreats and Prayer Days

Annual Retreats and Prayer Days are encouraged. Annual retreats can be done as a group or individually. A variety of opportunities are offered or advertised, but a priest may choose to design his own. A stipend for an annual retreat is part of the priest’s compensation package. Various kinds of prayer days are offered several times a year.

Sabbaticals

Sabbaticals are encouraged. This is an extended time off for renewal, education and growth. A sabbatical can last three to six months. Once a sabbatical plan is approved, the archdiocese pays for many of the expenses involved.

Spiritual Directors

Every priest is encouraged to find a spiritual director. The spiritual director may come from one of his fellow diocesan priests, one of the religious priests, a priest in a neighboring diocese, or a priest from one of the local monasteries. Some priests choose laypersons or members of a women’s religious communities to be their spiritual directors.

Alternative Housing

Even though most priests live in a rectory provided by the parish they serve or in an apartment or house supplied by the institution they minister to, alternative housing such as owning one’s own home or renting one’s apartment is possible depending on the archbishop’s approval and certain circumstances and restrictions.

Vacation

Every priest is entitled to and encouraged to take an annual vacation, up to four weeks a year depending on years of service. The priest is expected to pay for his own vacation out of his salary.

Questions

• As a member of the laity, what is your responsibility in terms of supporting the priests who serve in your parish?
• Which of the various types of support available to priests would be most important to you if you were a priest? Why?
• Do you think that the various compensations a priest receives are fair and just? Would you add or change anything?