DALLAS -- Catholic priests rank near the bottom of the pay scale for Christian clergy compensation, but the Catholic Church offers the best model for "financial quality of life," according to a new Duke University study.

The study says the church's provision for job security, benefits and allowances for priests makes the Catholic Church one of the more socially just, according to the Catholic News Service.

"The Catholic Church is very resistant to the forces of the free market," said the study's co-author, Becky McMillan, a Methodist minister. "Priests are cared for. Congregations get pastoral leadership regardless of income. It's more in line with the economic justice and equity norms that are expressed in the mission of the Gospel."

In 2002, the National Association of Church Business Administration (NACBA) and the National Federation of Priests' Councils did their own surveys. Both show Catholic pastors receive far below the average base salary of Protestant senior pastors, according to the report.

The NACBA found the average pastor in the Catholic Church has a total taxable income of $31,465. That's less than half the compensation of a Lutheran senior pastor with an average income of $76,247. An Episcopalian senior pastor receives the largest average salary at $110,192.

McMillan said those numbers are deceiving. There is a significant difference between base salary and "a better financial quality of life," she said.

Catholic priests usually have their room, board and pension covered by their parish, have their seminary training costs covered by the diocese and are compensated for continuing education. And priests have no family for which to provide, she said.

"The vast majority of Protestant pastors are serving (small) congregations and earning a bare minimum salary with no fringe benefits," McMillan said.