Although ministers may like to think of themselves as members of the professional middle class, they are hanging on to that status by their fingernails. Male clergy especially are pursuing their vocations despite a fear that they won’t be able to sustain a middle-class lifestyle or meet financial expectations for their children’s education and their own retirement years. The average household income of a married clergy man in the 1990s was less than a third of that for doctors and less than half that of teachers and the gap is widening. Total household income of female clergy was found to be 20 percent higher than that of male clergy. These real pressures will affect who fills the ranks of clergy in the future, according to Matthew J. Price, director of analytical research for the Church Pension Group of the Episcopal Church. Read this informative article, with suggestions on how to address this growing problem at: http://pulpitandpew.org/male-clergy-economic-crisis-fear-falling.