Words and Phrases - "clergy"

In finding that two Commended Workers of the Plymouth Brethren were "clergy", Bowman TCJ. stated that membership of the clergy "requires a formal act of recognition whereby that person is set apart from the other members of the church as a spiritual leader" and "requires a formal, serious and long-term commitment to the Ministry". He declined to follow the finding in Small v. MNR, 89 DTC 663 that to be a member of the clergy an individual must go through a ritual called "ordination" by the particular denomination.

Another taxpayer was found to be eligible for the deduction notwithstanding that he served multiple congregations, and yet another taxpayer was eligible for the deduction notwithstanding that he ministered to a custodial facility for young offenders who thus, in a sense, represented a captive audience who were not denominationally homogenous.