pop morality

[athrock]

#12 is pretty amusing. According to a quick Google search, the average Catholic priest earns about:

1. $33,279 a year. Those in New York City also make more than most, averaging $45,125 a year, while an Atlanta-based priest can expect a salary of $40,149 a year. The same, however, can't be said for Catholic priests in Dallas, Texas, where salaries average out at $33,279 a year.

It's not so much about the priest or preacher salaries . . . (well, there's Osteen - ) . . . unless I was misinformed, priest salaries are set by their diocese, and are not impacted by how much $$ the church itself rakes in.  No, we're talking about the church's income, the property taxes, etc.  And that $33,000 a year figure is where I JUST got to, in middle age, with 2 Masters degrees and a Doctorate.   $45,000 sounds pretty awesome, when you consider that they have job security, (unless they get caught doing something) and housing supplied.   Making $45,000 with no taxes and free housing just for telling people fairy tales and visiting the hospitals - - it almost makes up for the celibacy requirement, doesn't it?

FWIW-

Most Catholic priests have a four-year undergraduate degree and four years of seminary. 

So, the AVERAGE Catholic priest is earning that with two degrees. Additionally, the AVERAGE age of a Catholic priest in 2009 was 63, so they hit that average income much later than you did. Most will serve well into their 70's, btw.

No weekends off, on call 24/7...weddings, funerals, baptisms, confessions, counseling, parish council meetings and those pesky hospital visits to pray with the sick....yeah, sounds like a hoot.