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MEANING OF TERMS

Compiled by John Doxey

Rector

1. Christianity cleric in charge of an Episcopal parish: a member of the Episcopal clergy who is in charge of a parish

2. Christianity cleric in charge of a Catholic congregation: a member of the Roman Catholic clergy who is in charge of a congregation, a college, or a religious community
3. Christianity cleric in charge of an Anglican parish: a member of the clergy of the Church of England who is in charge of a parish
4. Education head of a school: the head of certain schools, colleges, or universities
[14th century. Directly or via Old French, captain (of a ship), head of a university, from Latin, ruler, governor (the original English sense), from, ultimately, regere to rule.

In the old day's when the Lord of the Manor wished to have a Church on his Estate, he would agree to pay a tithe [ see below ] to the Church, in this way he was allowed to have the Church on his land. If the Church was to receive all the tithes from the Parish the man in charge of the Church often referred to as the incumbent would be named a Rector

VICAR

vic·ar [ víkr ] noun vic·ar·ly adjective vic·ar·ship noun
 1. Anglican priest: a priest in the Anglican Church who is in charge of a parish and receives a salary but not the tithes
2. member of the Anglican clergy: a member of the Anglican clergy who acts in place of a rector or bishop at Communion
3. Roman Catholic priest: a Roman Catholic priest who represents or deputizes for a bishop
4. Episcopal Church cleric: a cleric in the Episcopal Church who is in charge of a chapel
5. substitute: somebody who acts as a substitute for somebody else ( archaic )
[14th century. Via Anglo-Norman vicare  from, ultimately, Latin vicarius substitute, from the stem vic- change, place (source of English vicissitude); because the vicar acted as a substitute for the rector.]
Often Vicars would be paid a reduced portion of a Parish tithe. This was allocated by an appropriator. During the early 20th century, tithes were abolished.
As a parish priest the vicar had the same spiritual status as a rector and the forms of institution and induction are identical since in both cases he holds his full spiritual jurisdiction from the bishop. He also holds the freehold of church, churchyard, vicarage and glebe.

Canon

(non residentiary or honorary) can·on [ kánnn ] (plural can·ons) noun
1. member of clergy attached to cathedral: a member of the Christian clergy who is on the permanent staff of a cathedral and has specific duties in relation to the running of it
[12th century. Via Old French canonie  from ecclesiastical Latin canonicus (somebody living) according to a rule, from Latin canon rule (see canon1).]
One who holds an unsalaried post which may entail various privileges and responsibilities.

Tithe [ t ]

noun (plural tithes) [Old English tēoþa tenth]  tith·er noun
1. Christianity individual’s financial support for a church: one tenth of somebody’s income or produce paid voluntarily or as a tax for the support of a church or its clergy
2. Christianity obligation of supporting a church financially: the obligation to pay a tithe to a church or its clergy
3. assessment or contribution: any voluntary contribution or tax payment, especially when it constitutes one tenth of somebody’s income
4. small part of something: one tenth or a small part of anything
verb (past tithed, past participle tithed, present participle tith·ing, 3rd person present singular tithes)
1. transitive and intransitive verb pay one tenth of income: to contribute or pay one tenth of your income or produce, especially to support a church
2. transitive verb collect one tenth of somebody’s income: to assess or collect the payment of one tenth of somebody’s income
In simple terms Tithe is a Tax.

Thank you Colliers Encyclopaedia and MS Dictionary

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