Should we just pay, pray and obey?

Dear Editor, Can I commend you on your fascinating coverage of clerical salaries in your issue of July 21? It was extraordinary to see how much variance there was across the country, but even more extraordinary to see the variance in how dioceses cooperated with your efforts. The Diocese of Elphin, which publishes its clerical salary figures on its website, is clearly a model of transparency, but what of the Diocese of Meath and the Archdiocese of Cashel and Emly, which refused to disclose their salary figures? 

Do these dioceses think that information is not for the ordinary faithful who fund the clergy through their weekly collections? Don’t they think it’s our business how our money is used? Is clericalism still alive and well in some parts of Ireland, with clergy taking the line that the laity are “little people” whose role in the Church is simply to “pray, pay and obey”?

I hope the aforementioned dioceses will have a change of heart, and that the Diocese of Dromore will belatedly cooperate and disclose its salary figures so you can complete your analysis. If even the Vatican is embracing financial accountability now, shouldn’t it be easy to follow suit on the level of our Irish dioceses? 

Yours etc.,

Clare McMahon,

Tallaght, Dublin 24.