Ecclesiastical offence is about cash -- curate finally put away (6)
I believe the answer is:
simony
'ecclesiastical offence' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both acts as well as being singular nouns.
Perhaps there's an association between them I don't understand?
'about cash curate finally put away' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'about' could be 'on' and 'on' is found in the answer.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).
'is' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for simony that I've seen before include "Buying and selling of ecclesiastical offices" , "Dealing in church property" , "Trade in ecclesiastical pardons" , "The buying or selling of ecclesiastical privileges" , "Buying and selling of benefices etc" .)