Personally, I am not answerable to either form of clergy. However, is not the whole point of unpaid clergy is so that one can receive the ordinances of God, separate from their means to pay for such services? Mormons do not have paid local leaders, but nothing in their church is free, so the reality does not meet the theory.
On the other hand, most religions that do have professional paid clergy, do not charge for church attendance, or for the reception of ordinances, but instead accept gifts that the members may give in gratitude. In theory this could mean that members do not receive all the services of the church, due to an inability to pay up, but the reality is that such churches rarely turn one away.
I never went to a tithing settlement when I was a member because I didn't think my income was any of the bishopric's business especially since many of the men worked in the same industry I did. I can really see a problem if the person works at the same company. How confidential is the information? The church tells its members that its lay-clergy are called by god, but when there is a problem, they use the excuse that they are not paid employees. Seems to me the church wants it both ways.
The church wants everyone to believe that men will have no problem juggling, work, family and church obligations. Maybe this is why church membership is declining. When companies want one employee to do the work of three employees, who has time or energy for all the church's bs?
The old joke is, you can't fire slaves, they have to be sold.
I have a friend who's a dentist in a small town. His sp and bishop are his competitors. What he makes is NONE of their business. In fact it could do damage to him if they have this info.
ago'smom Posted 19 hours ago "For me personally i love it because I have seen and had family members see their clergy do bad things with their offerings."
However, now ChurchCo seems to be acknowledging the spot they're in, and they're -to a minor degree- backing away from the counselor function.
Otherwise,a court finding of liability for 'defective' counseling or clergy advise is going to happen somewhere, sometime.
Of course, many of the 'Old Style' mormons will continue to believe 'think' that their leaders have discernment, etc., but even that can be defined away from the popular understanding that it once was.