One of the first jokes of the lockout was that while shaking hands to say 'peace' was banned to stop the spread of germs, Mass collection continued without fail. But the lockdown eventually shuttered many churches around the world, and the financial impact is being felt by priests around Ireland.
Today's Irish Independent features an interview with Fr John Collins of the Association of the Catholic Priests, who's asking the government 'to be more flexible in its application of the Covid-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment'. Like most people in society, priest have suffered a fall in wages due to the lack of weekly Church collections.
"If I get into difficulties, I should be entitled to whatever supports are there for the self-employed," he said.
Priests have suffered a loss of income because of this pandemic. The average wage of an Irish priest is around €23,000 but the coronavirus has completely wiped away the regular side income that priests earn. There are no wedding or other ceremonies to officiate. A portion of the weekly collection goes to pay a priest's salary among other things, but that's gone now. Fr Collins warned that from May, priests will really feel the financial consequences of the coronavirus
Priests were also badly-affected by the 2008 recession, with some saying they'd need to pick up supermarket work to pay the bills.
Priests pay tax but live rent-free.
The clergy are just another social group to be profoundly affected by the disease. However the lack of regular collections has not stopped priests in Burgos Spain from donating their salary to various charities fighting Covid-19.
The Burgos archdiocese called it a
The Indo also quote a Department of Social Protection source who says priests can avail of the Covid-19 payment as long as they're under 66.
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