Christian clergy and the law of employment : office-holders, employees or outlaws
https://archives.anglican.ca/link/article26032
- Author
- Ogilvie, M.H. (Margaret H.), 1948-
- Material Type
- Journal Article
- Journal
- Journal of the Church Law Association of Canada
- Date
- 1999 Spring
- Material Type
- Journal Article
- Date
- 1999 Spring
- Volume
- 3
- Issue
- 1
- Page
- 2-32
- Notes
- "[I]n churches governed by bishops, such as the Anglican Church of Canada ... clergy in parishes or congregations are not parties to a contract of employment and no written or oral agreements exist to govern the relationship of clergy to the denomination approximating to the secular contract of employment. Instead, the status of clergy is conceptualized as one of ecclesiastical office, or as a spiritual office, and remuneration and benefits are conceptualized as a maintenance provision to free clergy from secular employment and concerns for the exercise of their spiritual vocation. When pressed, the historic branches of the Christian church deny that their clergy are employees or that they are, themselves, employers" (p. 3). After enumerating and commenting on several principles extracted from the civil courts disposition of cases involving churches, the author states that "the most significant aspect of these principles is the underlying willingness of the courts to take direction from the governing constitutional documents and practices of the religious institutions in question, whether or not these make specific provision for the relationship of members of the clergy to the institution. In the absence of specific provision, the evident reluctance of courts to imply a contract of employment between a member of the clergy and the religious institution, preferring only to ensure that internal procedures and the rules of natural justice are followed, means that clergy who are office-holders only and not employees are, effectively, without the law. The civil courts will not provide redress where the means of redress is denied to ecclesiastical tribunals ... logically there are only two alternatives in these situations: intervention on civil law principles or non-intervention. Conflict between religious institutions and the civil law may be ultimately unavoidable. Whether it is appropriate for civil courts to wash their hands of the matter by saying that clergy voluntarily accept this possibility when they choose to become clergy, as Soubliere, J. said, depends on where one stands: with church or state" (p. 27).
- Subjects
- Employment - Religious aspects - Christianity
- Church and state - Canada
- Employment - Religious aspects - Salvation Army
- Employees - Legal status, laws, etc. - Canada
- Clergy - Licensing
- Anglican Church of Canada - Clergy - Licensing
- Anglican Church of Canada - Clergy - Discipline
- Brewer, Arthur (Arthur George), 1932-2011
- Location
- General Synod Archives