Rectory

Steventon Rectory, once home to Jane Austen

A rectory is the residence, or former residence, of a rector, most often a Christian cleric, but in some cases an academic rector or other person with that title. Many former rectories may still be referred to locally as a rectory once a church or religious organisation has vacated the property.

These homes are normally owned and maintained by the church, as a benefit to their ministers; if a minister makes his own living arrangements his residence is unlikely to be given a special title. The practice continues to this day in many denominations because of the tendency of church officials to be sent from one church to another at relatively frequent intervals. Many buildings described as "vicarage" or "rectory" that are sold by the church retain their former names, often qualified, such as "The Old Rectory".

Nomenclature by denomination

Depending on denomination, local custom, and the status of the minister, the clergy house inhabited (or formerly inhabited) by the leader of a local Christian church can be referred to by one of several names.

In Catholic churches it is usually called a presbytery, rectory or (in Ireland) a Parochial House (and in Scotland, a Chapel House) if appropriate. Catholic clergy houses may be lived in by several priests from a parish, as opposed to other denominations. A rectory also often functions as the administrative office of the local parish.

In churches that are members of the Anglican Communion, the building will most commonly be called a vicarage or rectory, or more traditionally the mansion of the rectory or mansion depending on the status of the incumbent. Parsonage is used in English-speaking Lutheran churches.

Methodists might refer to it as a manse, the usual term in Scottish Presbyterianism, or parsonage, while the latter is quite frequently used in English-speaking Lutheran churches. Manse is the usual name for the house of a Church of Scotland minister.

Pastorium is the usual term in the Southern United States, especially among Baptists.

Gallery

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  A rectory in Thuringia, Germany.

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  Halton Vicarage, England.

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  Former Rüti Abbey, a Protestant rectory, Switzerland.

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  The West Manse, Sanday, Scotland (formerly the Free Kirk manse).