ELKHART, IN
Fed up with meagre salaries that barely pay the rent, Mennonite pastors across the nation have been sporting snazzy new T-shirts as a form of protest.
“It’s bad enough he’s wearing such casual attire on Sunday morning,” said local churchgoer Dan Beachy. “But I see there’s even some writing on that thing.”
The writing, according to witnesses, says “Pay us what you owe us,” a reference to the revenue-sharing deal the pastors signed with the conference.
“The thing is, we’re actually losing money,” said Dan. “So they actually owe us, if you think about it.”
The controversy began at a recent meeting of pastors where the topic of salaries came up.
“Pastor David said he was only getting $35,000 a year. Pastor Anne was getting a paltry $27,000,” explained Pastor Rod. “But I just looked at them startled and said, ‘you guys are getting paid?’”
The hope is that the pastors can settle on something aligning with the salaries received by Catholic priests, although no one is all that eager to sign up for the celibacy.