Factors Causing Poverty Among the Retired Clergy in Mityana Diocese

Abstract

The consequences of poverty have historically been recognized by the church, which like other organizations been at the helm of alleviating poverty. In the entire Old Testament tradition, poverty is regarded as a scandalous condition that should never exist in the land because it may force one to steal and bring disgrace to God (Proverbs 30:9). What should be noted however is the fact that some of the clergy who spread the above mentioned messages are also living in non-adorable conditions, contrary to what the Biblical stand is regarding the Levites and this has been found to be true especially among the retired clergy in Mityana diocese. Prior to this study however, there was a scanty literature related to poverty and its influencing factors among retired clergy, the literature has been cited in generic terms tackling retirees in general. Three objectives i.e. To investigate the Individual and diocesan related factors influencing poverty among the retired clergy in Mityana diocese, To explore the prevailing living condition of the retired clergy in Mityana diocese and To suggest what the diocese can do to improve the lives of the retired clergy guided the study. The study findings revealed that Poverty rates are high among the retired clergy in Mityana diocese and this is manifested in the inability of the retired clergy to afford and access health care, inability to obtain basic needs and living in dilapidated houses. It’s on the basis of the study findings that the researcher adopts an amendment to reduce clergy retirement age to 55 years to allow for retirement with enough vigor to more productively and one to carry out business ventures. The church through the directorate of education could also consider inculcating a unit on entrepreneurship in the current theological training curriculum. That will not only inculcate entrepreneurship skills among the to-be clergy but also stimulate them to start up enterprises before or after training.