Unlike St. Francis of Assisi, Anglican priests don’t have to take a vow of poverty. In fact there is at least one Anglican priest who is struggling to make ends meet on a monthly pension of $25,637.08 and believes she is entitled to $33,644.21 a month. It’s understandable: Rev. Clitheroe has a standard of living to maintain – the one she became accustomed to while earning $2.2 million per year working for Hydro One.

I am not particularly averse to the idea that people should be paid at their market value – which means, in practice, for as much as they can get; but in this case, the reason given for needing the extra money bears all the authenticity of an airport stray begging for cash for a ticket to return to his pining wife and children: “Her mother is not well, and her husband has not been well. . . . She’s the sole breadwinner in the family and has been for years.’’

Any vestige of sympathy I may have felt for an Anglican priest living on a mere $25,637.08 per month – ok, I didn’t actually feel any – quickly evaporated on reading that.

From here:

Eleanor Clitheroe, the ousted CEO of Hydro One who is seeking an increase in her hefty government pension, is a sole breadwinner supporting ailing relatives, including her husband, her lawyer says.

Clitheroe, now an Anglican priest, is fighting the provincial government in Ontario’s Court of Appeal. The province believes her monthly pension should be $25,637.08 but Clitheroe, who made $2.2 million in 2001 in her final full year with Hydro One, is seeking $33,644.21 a month.

Clitheroe argues her Charter rights to liberty and security of the person were violated by Bill 80, passed by the Legislature in June 2002. The bill, brought in to curtail large compensation packages for senior management, imposed a maximum on amounts that Hydro One officers, including Clitheroe, could claim as a supplementary pension.

The legislation says Hydro pensions are not to exceed what would be paid to employees under a registered and supplementary pension plan.

Clitheroe has declined to speak publicly about her case, and wasn’t in court Tuesday.

But outside court her lawyer, Alan Lenczner, offered an explanation for why she wants to pad her pension.

“Her mother is not well, and her husband has not been well. . . . She’s the sole breadwinner in the family and has been for years,’’ Lenczner said.