1.   Clergy have a prime role in setting up schools and a favoured position of direct relationships with the appropriate state institutions.

2.   The clergy had a financial independence which the laity lacked.

3.   The parish clergy had to give up their concubines and accept a higher degree of accountability for performance of their duties.

4.   But the clergy had specific rights that were denied to lay people, even if influential landowners.

5.   If the clergy had privileges, they also had commensurate duties.

6.   And clergy have the ability to provide an open, welcoming space for people to gather as a community, to share the shock and grief.

7.   Clergy have more demands and less time than most of us who struggle to get through the holidays.

8.   Council members concluded that because the clergy often have to respond to emergencies, they should not have to circle block upon block looking for parking spaces.

9.   Mature clergy have the advantages of wisdom and experience in the secular world but are handicapped by limited years of service in church or synagogue.