Just Wages for Church Employees

Just Wages for Church Employees reviews the history of church support for the right to a just wage. There is a thorough analysis of the theological foundations of this human right. Only in recent years has there been explicit ecclesial support of just compensation for workers and their families when they are employed by the church. A survey of parish employees in Allegheny County, PA, shows the low wages and inadequate benefits actually paid. Dr. Almade offers twelve axioms for implementing a just wage. Responsible employers, and all church administrators, are obliged by the demands of justice, and the Gospel, to know the teaching on a just wage, and to begin a process of implementing it. As the American Catholic bishops wrote in 1986, «Indeed, the Church should be exemplary.»