Ministry of Culture agrees freeze on number of clergymen

The daily Právo writes that Czech religious organisations will have to freeze the employment of new clergyman for the next four years. According to Právo, a majority of the country’s 21 churches and religious organisations have agreed with a request from the Ministry of Culture that the numbers of priests, pastors, rabbis and so on for the years 2011 to 2014 will be kept at the level of last October. The ministry’s expenses for clergymen’s wages have more than doubled in the last ten years to 1.4 billion crowns. Clergymen and teachers have been the only state employees to avoid the coalition’s 10% wage cuts plan, as their salaries are roughly 7,000 crowns below the national average. There are currently 4800 clergymen paid by the Ministry of Culture.