credit of
the government; in no case must it be composed of real estate;[31114]
should the clergy become land-owners it would enjoy too much local
influence. No bishop, no cure must feel himself independent; he must be
and always remain a mere functionary, a hired workman for whom the
State provides work in a shop with a roof overhead, a suitable and
indispensable atelier, in other words, the house of prayer well known in
each parish as "one of the edifices formerly assigned to worship."
This edifice is not restored to the Christian community, nor to
its representatives; it is simply "placed at the disposition of the
bishop."[31115] The State retains the ownership of it, or transfers this
to the communes; it concedes to the clergy merely the right of using
it, and, in that, loses but little. Parish and cathedral churches in its
hands are, for the most part, dead capital, nearly useless and almost
valueless; through their structure, they are not fitted for civil
offices; it does not know what to do with them except to make barns of
them; if it sells them it is to demolishers for their value as building
material, and then at great scandal. Among the parsonages and
gardens that have been surrendered, several have become communal
property,[31116] and, in this case, it is not the State which loses its
title but the commune which is deprived of its investment. In short, in
the matter of available real estate, land or buildings, from which the
State might derive a rent, that which it sets off from its domain and
hands over to the clergy is of very little account. As to military
service, it makes no greater concessions. Neither the Concordat nor
the organic articles stipulate any exemption for the clergy; the
dispensation granted is simply a favor; this is provisional for the
seminarians and only becomes permanent under ordination; now, the
government fixes the number of the ordained, and it keeps this down as
much as possible;[31117] for the diocese of Grenoble, it allows only
eight in seven years.[31118] In this way, it not only saves conscripts,
but again, for lack of young priests, it forces the bishops to appoint
old priests, even constitutionalists, nearly all pensioners on the
treasury, and which either relieves the treasury of a pension or
the commune of a subsidy.[31119]--Thus, in the reconstruction of the
ecclesiastical fortune the State spares itself and the portion it
contributes remains very small: it furnishes scar