The Notion of Decent Support of the Clergy According to the 1983 Code of Canon Law

The 1983 Code of Canon Law contains numerous instructions for decent support of clerics. Decent support should be such that it provides for the basic necessities of clerical life. The concept of “necessity” should be understood both as necessitas naturae (the temporal goods without which one cannot sustain himself) as well as necessitas personae (goods without which the human person can live but not in a dignified way). Decent support includes everything that is morally necessary for the priest to properly carry out his priestly vocation: food, accommodation, clothing, health care, social security, annual holidays, aiding parents or close family members, giving payment for assistance or further intellectual development. With respect to the issue of the cost of support, the code legislator sets out the general principle that it is to be “appropriate” for the clerical position he is in, and the two factors that make it possible to determine this “appropriateness” more precisely, namely: taking into account the nature of the tasks entrusted and the adjustment of the cost of remuneration to the circumstances of place and time.