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Do they have a kitchen, dining area, office, sitting rooms for visitors. I Have been in several rectories and one I know of even has his own chapel. The other is in an old Victorian home, the parish when I had the farm was modest but nothing like you state....It housed at least 3 bedrooms, a nice kitchen etc. I know of one that even has his own cook....you should get out more. But if your parish priest lives in such simplicity, good for him, its admirable...But I will give you a fact that you may not know. Rectories belong to the church and not the priest. He lives in what the church provides..

But for me, the best way to get in touch with God was on several silent week end retreats. At the Dominican mother house in Michigan. Those nuns could cook like angels and no talking at dinner either...a nun would sit in the front and read from scripture...The stations of the cross were on a path that lead through the woods and other places outside for silent meditation...We that were on retreat slept in the kind of cells you describe that your priest lives in, but the rest of the retreat house were lovely, with libraries that had only spiritual books and lives of the Saints. One year it was not a silent retreat and that was the last one I went to. Hard to meditate when others are talking about none spiritual gossip....Not all, but enough to distract you.....