Priests' Pay

Because priests and nuns take vows of poverty, it is common practice in Roman Catholic schools and universities to pay them less than lay members of the faculty. That "clerical discount" can mean a salary differential of 50%. Now the only two priests on the law school faculty of Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., have become fed up with the policy. The two professors, Father Joseph Broderick and Father David Granfield, have filed separate suits in a Washington federal court seeking parity with other law professors. They thus increased the pressure being applied by a growing group of nuns and priests who argue that their vow of poverty means that any unneeded earnings should benefit their orders rather than their employers. In their suits, Fathers Broderick and Granfield contend that the university had promised to abolish clerical discounts but did not, and that they are being deprived of their rightful salaries without due process of law. Because they are asserting a right to an already established salary level, the new wage-price freeze probably will not affect their claim.

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