Bell Curve
Bell Curve
Pastoral Associate. Salary: $0
You're an avid parishioner who likes to be involved in the church. Maybe you lead a Catechism class or assist the priest by taking collections at Mass. (Somebody's gotta collect the money from those baskets handed down the pews.) You can serve on parish council and advise the priest, but you have no authority to make executive decisions—and that's how you like it. While you're a devout man, you'd much rather make a lot more money in a different job to help support your family. You figure, you can support the church in other ways (source).
Deacon. Salary: $0
You never quite got to priesthood. Committing to that as a career became too overwhelming. Instead, you secured yourself one of those layman's jobs, put your philosophy degree to work as a teacher, and just decided to volunteer on the side. You do pretty much the same work as a priest, but there is way less pressure (source).
Regular Ol' Priest. Salary: $20,000
You are the resident priest at your parish. It's a pretty sweet gig. You have a cozy cot that you sleep in—for free. And everyone around town knows (and loves) you. You often get tons of smiles and handshakes when you take your Saturday morning stroll. You love your little small-town church and you feel like you have found a huge family in your parishioners. Love is all around. Life is beautiful.
Bishop. Salary: $45,000
You're the HPIC—Head Priest In Charge. You rule over a couple congregations. You can decide if wannabe priests don't cut it, and you're in charge of the entire welfare program of your congregations. You may not make a lot of money, but you certainly deal with a lot of money. Not to mention, you are an important figure in your community. That makes you a special snowflake (source).
Megachurch Priest. Salary: $150,000+
You're on TV. Wow. You preach to hundreds of thousands, and your sermons are sponsored. Many would say this violates the true idea behind being a priest, but you just view the fame as a better way to spread the word of god. Undoubtedly, you reach many more people...just don't let it get to your head.