You might find this helpful.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vicar_(Anglicanism)

Our Anglican parish has a Rector.

A Rector is a title for a minister which basically means "the person in charge". Note the shared root with director. The use of Rector seems most common in western churches with episcopal church polity. So Roman Catholic, Church of England, The Episcopal Church, etc. A large parish might have multiple ordained ministers, but only one Rector.

A Parson seems to be a more colloquial and informal way of referring to whoever happens to be filling the pastoral position.

Vicar is used (I think) almost exclusively in the Church of England, and seems to typically refer to one who is the sole minister at a small parish. Vicar means substitute, so the etymology is that he is the one who is standing in for Christ.

So
Rectory: Rector's house

Parsonage: Parson's house

Vicarage: Vicar's house

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think of a rectory as catholic and parsonage as Protestant.

Yes! English major from a party school and former Catholic with Protestant grandparents.

Nope. Our very Protestant rector lives in the rectory our congregation owns.

Anonymous wrote:The Parson lives in the parsonage. The Rector (lower ranking clergy) lives in the Rectory.

+1

Anonymous wrote:I think of a rectory as catholic and parsonage as Protestant.

Yes! English major from a party school and former Catholic with Protestant grandparents.

Anonymous wrote:I think of a rectory as catholic and parsonage as Protestant.

Me too. I don’t know if this is the technical difference between the two but that’s how I’ve heard it. Grew up in a Protestant church and the house where the senior pastor lived, which was across the street from the church proper, was always called the parsonage. DH and I now attend a Catholic Church and the house where the parish priest and seminarian live is referred to as the rectory.

The Parson lives in the parsonage. The Rector (lower ranking clergy) lives in the Rectory.

To me-

parsonage - home next to the church where clergy lives

rectory - office, same building as the church

I think of a rectory as catholic and parsonage as Protestant.

Anonymous wrote:DCUM can be so obnoxious sometimes. I don’t think OP is asking for the dictionary definitions of the words but instead wants to understand if there would have been underlying cultural connotations, especially given the strict class distinctions at the time those authors were writing. Unfortunately, I don’t know the answer.

I think this can help:

https://alwaysausten.com/2023/08/01/vicars-pastors-rectors-whos-who-in-the-clergy/

DCUM can be so obnoxious sometimes. I don’t think OP is asking for the dictionary definitions of the words but instead wants to understand if there would have been underlying cultural connotations, especially given the strict class distinctions at the time those authors were writing. Unfortunately, I don’t know the answer.

You don’t own a dictionary?

English major?

The nearest 11yr old would be simply sufficient.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clergy_house#:~:text=A%20parsonage%20is%20where%20the,other%20person%20with%20that%20title.

Asking here on book club because I have Austen and Gaskell (and period houses) on the brain and thought an English major might be able to offer some perspective. Google only offered me AI-generated answers that were simply insufficient.