20 - Of The Church And its Ministers, And their Offices

Summary

Of parish clerks.

The parish clerk shall be paid by the parish[ioners]. It will be his duty to instruct all the youth of the parish entrusted to him in the alphabet and in the catechism [written] in the popular tongue, so that the children may begin to understand what to believe, how to pray and how to live well and blessedly. And whoever refuses to do this and neglects this his duty for two months shall be removed, after having been warned once and again by the bishop or by the local ordinary. Furthermore, if the parishioners withhold the usual stipend, or reduce or diminish it, they shall be compelled by the bishop or the local ordinary, using ecclesiastical censure, to pay it. And if the amount of the stipend shall seem to the bishop to be too small, it will be in his power to augment it at his discretion out of the revenues of the parishioners, bearing in mind the size of the parish. In addition to this task, he shall And it shall be his task to keep the church buildings clean, and diligently ensure that the Holy Bible, the paraphrase and the other church books are not torn or defaced, to ring the bells at the appropriate time, by which the people are summoned either to sermons or to common prayer, or when a departing soul is to be prayed for, or some serious reason or case of human need requires, to inspect the vestments and silver and any other ornaments [of the church] which are designated for holy use to see that they are pure and clean, and if there is something which has been worn out with age, accidentally ruined or is in need of alteration for some necessary reason, to alert the wardens to it in time; to bring water for baptism; to prepare the bread and wine for celebrating the most holy supper of the Lord;