Ordinands' Debts: A Grim Picture
Episcopal News Service. February 5, 1987 [87031]
Jean Allen Henderson
NEW YORK (DPS, Feb. 5) -- How much does it cost an Episcopalian seeking ordination to the priesthood to receive the necessary seminary education and how is that affecting the Church's future priests?
The answers -- and the resultant implications -- form the basis of a research paper commissioned by the Board of Theological Education and the Church Pension Fund for the Council for Development of Ministry as presented to the Council last November. They point to concerns for the total Church community.
Although the full costs of three years at seminary vary according to the institution attended and the distance of it from the home diocese, the average yearly cost that is not covered by scholarships or grants amounts to $14,890 for those over 42 years old and $9,930 for those 41 and under.
The current ordinands polled report that the cost of tuition, housing, books and travel are not the total costs incurred. Nearly 75 percent reported holding educational loans averaging $10,244 as they enter the ordained ministry. Ordinands saw the likelihood of repaying these loans within five years as being unlikely for 25 percent of single men; 39 percent of married men; 52 percent of single women; and 38 percent of married women.
For ordinands whose dioceses leave them free to make such a choice, nearly half reported that financial considerations affected their decision about what kind of position they had accepted or would accept.
The debate gets underway when comparing the ordinands' perception of diocesan help with financial planning for these costs with the perceptions of bishops. Approximately two-thirds of the bishops polled felt that postulants get sufficient help in financial planning for undertaking the cost of seminary and that current diocesan policies for financial support of postulants are good. Approximately two-thirds of the ordinands polled disagreed.
An area of basic agreement is seen with 65 percent of the bishops and 75 percent of the ordinands agreeing that newly ordained priests do not get sufficient help in financial planning for the future work and retirement years.
In this area, however, the majority of ordinands expect at least three different sources of income during retirement. Almost a fifth expect to have five or more sources.
While in seminary, half of the postulants paid for their medical insurance themselves, while another 10 percent paid part of the cost of this coverage in conjunction with the seminary or the diocese. Only 12 percent were insured by their diocese or by their seminary, with the remaining 29 percent being covered by their spouse's employer.
Over two-thirds of the ordinands report discussing their financial support picture with either their bishops or Commissions on Ministry twice, at the most, during their entire postulancy and candidacy. A full third said they had never discussed these matters with their bishops. Seventy-nine percent reported never having discussed this with their Commissions on Ministry.
Comments such as, "The bishop was supportive when I talked with him, but we never talked about finances," or "Financial counselling was never really offered," were commonplace among the ordinands.
In response to a question asking ordinands how well supported by their dioceses they felt during the time they were in seminary, the range of responses yielded 25 percent who felt very well supported pastorally to 27 percent who felt little supported, or even pastorally ignored.
The research data suggests that those ordinands who felt most supported receive both pastoral and financial support from the diocese.
According to Dr. Adair Lummis, researcher for the study, "Debts, ability to repay loans, family finances and desire for an adequately comfortable lifestyle during the working years and on retirement have pervasive effects on the ministries and aspirations of the clergy just as they have on the laity.
"The demonic factor in this reality is not that it occurs for clergy, but that it is not seen as important in the ordained life," she continues. "Not recognizing the importance of such realities for clergy leads to not addressing critical financial problems of postulants and ordinands soon enough, or at all. Yet if these are not taken seriously, the potentiality of a postulant support crisis will be hastened rather than averted."
Indeed, in the first pages of the report is found one of the potential implications of the current situation: the broad question for the Church of whether the cost of seminary education is further creating a cadre of clergy from wealthy backgrounds and concomitantly decreasing the proportion from working class families is pivotal.
Another implication of the report yields "the grim picture of the single woman debtor." One of the reasons for this is similar to the overall secular reality of women as heads of households. 'Whereas over three-fourths (77 percent) of the single women are single parents (77 percent with one or more children at home), this is true for none of the single men!
As a result of the report, the Council for Development of Ministry recommended that there be provision for financial review of candidates prior to acceptance. This has been forwarded to the national canon Title 3 Revision Committee. The full report is also being sent to bishops, Commissions on Ministry and the people who were surveyed.