New Parish Employee Manual Promulgated by Diocese of Pittsburgh

In 1986 the U.S. Catholic bishops issued a long and detailed pastoral letter on the U.S. economy in light of Catholic social moral teaching.  For hundreds of pages in "Economic Justice for All" the bishops gave spiritual guidance to leaders of business, industry, government, agriculture, the military, education, and academia, on how to look at our economy though the lens of human dignity and human rights.

Then in an almost unprecedented act, the bishops turned the spotlight on themselves.  They noted that the Catholic Church in our country employed tens of thousands of people, in 18,000 parishes, 1,400 social service agencies, hundreds of schools, colleges, universities, seminaries, hospitals and related organizations.  They acknowledged that historically Catholic institutions were known to violate church teachings, and sometimes did not treat workers justly.  The U.S. bishops called themselves and their collaborators in leadership ministry to provide just compensation and fair treatment for every employee.  But they went further, and urged in bold terms, "Indeed, the Church should be exemplary [as an employer]." (#347)

This fall the Diocese of Pittsburgh is working to put those challenging words into action at its grassroots.  Various diocesan offices collaborated to write a template of employment policies for the parishes which conform to civil and church laws.   The diocese itself has a generation of experience with a personnel policy, since the first personnel manual for central administration employees was implemented in 1990, and significantly revised last year.

Now every parish in the diocese is implementing a written personnel manual for its employees.  The pastors, finance council members, and business managers of our parishes have been reviewing the document from the diocese to make it applicable to their own specific pastoral situation.  At the same time, every employee will be consulted about his/her job description, designation as either fulltime or parttime, and what benefits (e.g., medical insurance, vacation, days off, etc.) beyond compensation they receive.  All of this is done so as to treat workers with the respect and dignity they deserve.

Written policies help build up dialogue and trust between the pastors and employees of the parishes.  They prevent arbitrary or capricious decisions.  These diocesan guidelines for a parish personnel manual foster accountability, transparency and sound business practices.  They assist in fulfilling church mandates and applicable civil law.  Written employment policies provide a framework for the spiritual practice of Christian stewardship to grow in the Body of Christ.

When I became a pastor for the first time years ago, I was ill-equipped to be "the boss."  I knew nothing about how to lead the parish employees or how much to pay them.  Over time, with the advice of astute businessmen and women on our finance councils, I was able to grasp the basics of employee administration.  But "ad hoc" decision-making was never a good idea.  Parish employees would ask me questions about their salary or benefits as I was running from one place to another.  Only when the details of the work situation were written down and put into the context of a system was I able to treat all parish paid workers fairly.

Some church professionals have a contract with the parishes or schools for their services.  These "lay ecclesial ministers" include school principals, directors of religious education, directors of music ministries, business managers and social service workers.  But equitable employee administration needs to extend to all workers, whether paid hourly or salaried.

If the Catholic Church is to retain its integrity as a voice for justice in the economic affairs of the world, it is essential to act in a just manner as an employer.  The road to fulfilling the right to just, family compensation for workers is a process of employment, administration, in light of our church;s social doctrine, which is marked by participation, collaboration and commitment to execution.  The implementation of a personnel policy in each parish is leading them to closer to be exemplary in the treatment of their workers.