The Salaries of Catholic Clergy
The archbishop of Santiago, Cuba, and the bishop of Havana have a yearly salary of $18,000 each. There are many other professed shepherds of the flock of God who draw annual salaries of from $2,000 to $12,000. When the poor are called upon to sacrifice some of the commonest necessities of life to help make up these princely clerical salaries, it would seem that those who are living upon them would hardly be able to keep back some very sober reflections. It is said of the Author of Christianity that He “had not where to lay His head.” Then how can a man deceive himself into thinking that he is following the great Shepherd of the sheep when he is willing to take such large salaries, and regale himself with all the luxuries of life, when the divine Lord set no such example? And how can a person be following the unselfish Master when he is willing to bestow every kind of good thing upon himself, while thousands of his fellows are pale with hunger and destitution?