(n.) The body of men set apart, by due ordination, to the service of God, in the Christian church, in distinction from the laity; in England, usually restricted to the ministers of the Established Church.
(n.) Learning; also, a learned profession.
(n.) The privilege or benefit of clergy.
Example Sentences:
(1) The statutory age of retirement for clergy is 70, although vicars’ terms can be extended by his or her bishop.
(2) Already the demand for such a liturgy is growing among clergy, who are embarrassed by having to withhold the church's official support from so many of their own flock who are in civil partnerships.
(3) Telemarketers, accountants, sports referees, legal secretaries, and cashiers were found to be among the most likely to lose their jobs, while doctors, preschool teachers, lawyers, artists, and clergy remained relatively safe.
(4) One group of clergy had spent the evening marching through the west side, pleading with people to remain peaceful.
(5) The Irish people, once so willing to heed to the clergy, decisively determined that Catholic bishops possess little credibility these days when it comes to knowing what’s in the best interests of children.
(6) During most of the century, the clergy did not condemn abortion.
(7) A conscience clause, however, will allow individual clergy to opt out of conducting same-sex marriages.
(8) Clergy at St Paul's have been divided over what action to take against the protest.
(9) Cure The Violence does a great deal of public education, often in concert with local clergy, to organise communities against gun violence.
(10) Pemberton, a former parish priest and a divorced father-of-five, was one of dozens of clergy in December 2012 who signed a letter to the Daily Telegraph warning that if the church refused to permit gay weddings in its own churches they would advise members of their congregations to marry elsewhere.
(11) Although accompanied by his father to the meeting, Boland's parent was not allowed into the hearing between senior clergy and the boy.
(12) As the cathedral clergy in their golden robes snaked in their stately procession around the nave, with the choir all in white and the bishops in white and scarlet, the theatre still seemed moving enough.
(13) He went on to say: "We can't be certain about the direct link between bad weather and the gay marriage legislation" Some clergy are offering to bless same-sex marriages despite their bishops opposition.
(14) The Vatican announced in December that Francis had decided to set up the commission to advise the church on the best policies to protect children, train church personnel and keep abusers out of the clergy.
(15) Henry Barnes The clergy may not be entirely trustworthy This may not be big news to cinemagoers – sneering at religious types goes all the way back to DW Griffith's Intolerance – but Cannes boasts an impressively ecumenical approach.
(16) In the US, schools, AIDS activists, and clergy distribute condoms to prevent HIV transmission.
(17) The following research was conducted to find out the specific variables associated with state prison clergy counselor role self-perceptions.
(18) As political leaders, the black clergy were usually the primary spokespersons for the entire black community, especially during periods of crisis.” The roll call of 20th-century African-American leadership, from Adam Clayton Powell, through Martin Luther King to Jesse Jackson, shows that only a handful of prominent figures emerged outside of organised religion.
(19) Of all the senior clergy of the Church of England, she is arguably the least theatrical.
(20) Poland remains one of Europe’s most staunchly Catholic nations, although the clergy’s influence has been steadily eroded by more than two decades of democratisation and market reforms since the 1989 fall of communism.
Unfrock
Definition:
(v. t.) To deprive or divest or a frock; specifically, to deprive of priestly character or privilege; as, to unfrock a priest.
Example Sentences:
(1) After being unfrocked, Davidson eked out a living as an entertainer on the seafront at Skegness - where, in 1937, he was mauled to death by a lion.