Coronavirus lockdown leaves Catholic priests struggling for funds

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The Archdiocese of Birmingham’s treasurer wrote to HM Revenue and Customs, Britain’s tax authority, in June asking it to reassess the exclusion of priests from the scheme.

Bernard Cooper, clergy welfare coordinator for the Archdiocese of Birmingham, told CNA: “If a priest comes to me and says, ‘I don’t have any money. I can’t manage”, it is vital that even in the poorest parish, with no income, that parish finances should reflect the support of its parish priest.

“So in those extreme cases, the diocese basically has to increase the parish overdraft, obviously guaranteed by the diocese, to allow the priest to get some money to live on. Most priests are extremely reluctant to do that. They don’t. like withdrawing money from the parish account if the parish doesn’t have the money.”

“A secular priest, a diocesan priest, does not have the vow of poverty. The perception that priests have – and the perception that the faithful, the laity have – is that a priest is poor and must be seen as poor and not put himself in a better position than his own congregation.”

Cooper added that applying for Universal Credit, a benefit for low-income or unemployed people, did not appear to be an option for priests.

“They’re just kind of left up in the air,” he said, adding that he hoped the tax authority would resolve the matter in favor of the priests.

The situation of the clergy in England seems to vary considerably from one diocese to another.

The Diocese of Leeds, for example, paid a living allowance directly into priests’ bank accounts to help them through the lockdown.

A spokeswoman for the diocese said: “Some priests had expressed concern about how they would cope in this time of uncertainty; others had no concerns. But to ensure that all were treated equally and could feel financially secure and supported—and most importantly to prevent any priest being tempted to disadvantage and “deprive” himself—the indemnity was paid to all priests.

The diocesan finance department has also made available an additional allowance to cover the lost Easter offering.

Prof. Alexander Lucie-Smith, pastor of St. Peter’s, Hove, a seaside town in East Sussex, told CNA he has received similar financial support in his diocese of Arundel and Brighton.

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“To my surprise, the Mass intentions held,” he said, explaining that parishioners continued to drop Mass offerings in envelopes throughout the lockdown.

He added that since public Masses were allowed to resume in July, Mass attendance was around half of what it was before the crisis.

“What’s interesting is that our finance committee met and, it turns out, even though our congregation has gone down a lot, our revenue hasn’t gone down as a result. They’re not as dire. than you might think is that those who gave a lot came back,” he said.

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