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Do priests get a wage and if so can they do what they wish with it?
Diocesan priests receive a modest salary and are free to budget according to their own discretion. Parish priests are also often provided with accommodation or housekeeping services, but their wage is still likely to fall below that of people in the voluntary sector or business world.
Priests, therefore, live modestly in the main and they do have discretion over what they spend their money on. Many of them have to furnish their own houses, pay for holidays and buy a car out of their wages, so they don’t have a lot of disposable income.
Religious priests take a vow of poverty which means they hand in any earnings to the community and receive what they need from the community common fund. Depending on practice – and practice varies across different religious communities – religious may be given a certain amount of money monthly or annually, which they manage and account for. The community bursar will have overall responsibility for community accounts.
