What Were the Duties of the Secular Clergy?

Local Priest

• The secular clergies perform their duties as ordained priests, and are in charge of any issue within the jurisdiction of the church. They act in accordance with the church laws with full authority from the bishop. They proclaim the gospel and are in charge of all who need protection, including widows, orphans, beggars and minors. They also handle cases involving marital problems, witnessing in writing wills and taking oaths. Clergies sometimes participate in the enforcement of civil cases in which a church member has committed a violation against a sacred object.

Presiding Over Funerals

• Secular clergies preside over funeral masses on behalf of the local church. Their duties involve upholding the church's doctrines and teachings regarding death and burials, administering the rites required for the ceremony, presiding over the burial ceremony, speaking of eternal life after death, and signing and issuing burial certificates. The clergies intervene in burial feuds that involve a church member and offer the required counseling.

Presiding Over Baptism

• Secular clergy presides over the entire baptism process. They offer teachings on baptismal rite, present baptism certificates to the bishop for signing, carry out the baptismal rites for children and new converts and administer sacrament to the congregation.

Visiting Schools

• The clergies visit the local church schools and interact with students and teachers. They offer guidelines on the running of the church schools, provide education on moral behavior and perform pastoral work. They also organize occasional workshops on guidance and counseling to both students and teachers, chair important meetings in the schools, attend the school committee meetings and teach religious education in class.

Church Work

• Secular clergies sometimes voluntarily help in the general duties and operations within the church, such as manual work in the compound, mending fences and hedges, cooking and serving visitors, general laundry work, decoration of the church, ushering in visitors and handling secretarial duties in the parish office.

Visiting Hospitals and Prisons

• Secular clergies visit those in hospitals to offer patients compassion, listen to them, anoint them, offer prayer and Holy Communion by their bedsides. They do the same when they visit the prisoners; by offering guidance and counseling, listening to their challenges, confessions and providing religious materials such as Bibles.