Catholics - are you ok with supporting non-Catholic churches?

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lizaanne

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The “jumper” thread got me thinking. How do you feel about supporting other non-Catholic churches or religious organizations through your financial support? For example - going to tag sales at Protestant churches, parking lot car washes, even putting money in the red kettle at Christmas time (the Salvation Army IS a church).

I personally have a problem with giving my money to an organization which, in some cases, works deliberately to debunk the teachings of the Catholic Church, or to give them money to continue promoting heresy.

What say you all?

(Please don’t make this only about the Salvation Army - that discussion has already taken place, I’m more interested in the other examples I cited.)

~Liza
 
I agree with you as far as supporting other Churches. Now if the jumble or garage sale were being held on the church property for another organization (say Birthright or Care Net) then I wouldn’t have a problem with it.

Brenda V.
 
Hmm… good question. I don’t usually go out of my way to support non-Catholic churches, but I can’t say I never have. It’s more of a desire to support Catholic churches for me, and less of a desire to NOT support non-Catholic ones.

The Salvation Army is a whole different situation though, and I absolutely do whatever I have to do to NOT to support them.
 
I have no problem with this. If I give or not depends on what is being done for a fundraiser and for what purpose. Mostly I look towards charitable applications which then depends on the group purpose.
 
I don’t go out of my way to support other churches. Sometimes I’m cornered by co-workers or friends who may not understand the issue and feel easier giving than explaining. I never realized, to tell the truth, that a lot of the “mission trips” that these churches are taking are being used to “evangelize” to Catholics. It certainly makes me think twice.
 
My sister and I had this discussion awhile back. She was “Flocked” (they put ~100 pink flamingos on your lawn & you have to “donate” to have them removed) by a local Methodist Church. When she called to find out what the donations would go to they told her it was for their missionaries in South America. She told them that she could not support their cause (as they would most likely be converting Catholics) and if they didn’t remove the “flock” by 5:00 she would remove them herself. I think they came and got them.

I attended BSF (a non-denom bible study) and the first few years I would give a few dollars a week to cover the cost of printing my study questions etc but stopped when I saw how many ex-Catholics there were there. The seeds of doubt about the Church were being sown there and I couldn’t support that in any way.

We used Holt International (a Lutheran adoption agency) to adopt our two children (and Catholic Charities for the local portion) they were very good, especially with the red tape issues. They do a very good job of providing for the needs of orphans all over the world. The funds we gave them were to cover our adoption costs and we have a breakdown of it all.

I try to be very careful about who and what I donate to and tend to stay with Catholic organizations. Although there have been some “catholic” organizations that were not in communion with the magesterium, so just because its labeled Catholic doesn’t mean it is.

Now Catholic Answers? They’re GREAT 👍
 
I don’t actively support other churches, but I don’t see anything wrong with going to a garage sale, or a dinner. We get lots of people at our garage sale and dinners that aren’t Catholic.
 
Another reason this question came to me was because of a casual lunch conversation with a co-worker yesterday. He is Protestant, and spends a great deal of time and energy with a mission in Guatemala. He went on and on for about 20 minutes about all the wonderful things they do, which truly are good things - building homes and feeding widows and orphans.

Then someone at the table asked if they faced any opposition to their work there from the locals. And this is a paraphrase of what he said: “Yes, even the local Catholic priest was telling the women in the village that the gringos from the North were coming to feed their children and make them fat so they could eat them.”

I wanted to throw up right there at the table. I was so completely dumb struck that I was speechless. Then when thinking about the whole question I’ve posted here, considered how many good meaning Catholics may have contributed to these mission trips thinking they are doing such wonderful things - feeding orphans and widows. Now, I don’t know if the priest said this or not, but it was clear that this co-worker did not hear this (most probably) urban legend first hand, and so the spreading of rumor and deception was just totally unjustified.

I think everyone else must have seen the look on my face, the topic was changed very quickly.

But I have to think about all the good Catholic people out there who are giving money to these mission trips when all these missionaries are doing is going into areas and converting Catholics. And yes - many garage sales at churches fund mission trips.

~Liza
 
Here’s my take on it. My parish has financial problems, and I know the Catholic Church has so many wonderful ministries - the need for money and donations is so great that I don’t really need to go outside my circle to donate. This way I know the money is being utilized on something good and wholesome to our faith.
 
If I feel a need to donate to a cause, I look for a Catholic agency to do it. Like after the tsunami, I gave to Catholic Relief. For pregnancy centers, I give to the local Catholic agency. An occaisional garage sale or dinner, eh. I go either way. I usually go to the dinner for the local Christian school, as we don’t have a Catholic school in our town (we drive our son a half hour to the next town to send him to Catholic school). But I will not purposely support their missionary work, because they consider Catholics to be non-Christian.
 
I have in the past donated to non-Catholic causes if I felt that it was a good cause. I usually stick with Catholic charities but every now and then there is a good cause at a local church like the food pantry garage sales. (all the churches in our area support 1 food pantry…they take different months to support it). One of my other ones is I volunteer my time at a Protestant church for their school clothes for the poor thing…funny part is my bosses wife (Catholic) and most of the workers are Catholic as well. Our parish doesn’t have this so we help out the other church.
 
A large portion of my donations of time and talent definitely go to my local Catholic church and related organizations.

I have been known to drop money in the red kettle or get that occasional car wash - I look at the purpose and good deeds in general. I usually do get those girl scout cookies - but I need my colleagues to buy stuff from me too occasionally and I can’t resist those thin mints.
 
I usually try and find a Catholic counterpart to give too. For example, instead of giving old stuff to the Salvation Army or Goodwill, I give it to the Society of St. Vincent de Paul.
 
With so many good Catholics groups and organizations, along with parishes that need my support, if it’s not Catholic, and “good” Catholic, I don’t support it. I will also mildly offend if necessary, especially at work or if someone comes to my door.
 
I personally make sure that our money goes only to Catholic organizations. We have plenty of needs in our own Church.
 
The only church we donate to is the Catholic Church, period. If an organization is affiliated with another church, I just politely decline the opportunity to give.

That said, we only give non-monetary donations (mostly clothing) to one secular organization, Vietnam Veterans of America. Coming from a military family, I have a soft spot for our veterans.
 
Before some non-Catholics come browsing through here and get horrified about people doing whatever they can to NOT support the Salvation Army, I think it would be wise to explain the rationale behind that decision 😉
 
CatholicSam said:
Before some non-Catholics come browsing through here and get horrified about people doing whatever they can to NOT support the Salvation Army, I think it would be wise to explain the rationale behind that decision 😉
Click to expand...
Because it is a church which promotes heretical teachings. Do I really NEED another reason? 🤷

~Liza
 
Interesting question. I have given small amounts for things like a youth group trip to build houses for Habitat for Humanity. I know they are not doing anything anti-Catholic there. Our new parish’s youth group has a similar program, so we will now donate there.

We have friends and family members who are Protestant missionaries. Dh’s cousins are Wycliff missionaries. While we have sent presents to the family, we have never supported their mission directly. They are not in S. American trying to convert CAtholics, but there are Bible translators who say that without the Bible in yur native language, you can’t be ‘real’ Christians. I would rather support the Maryknoll Fathers or another group like that who are teaching and administering sacrements NOW rather than waiting until the translation is done. 😦
 
lizaanne said:
Because it is a church which promotes heretical teachings. Do I really NEED another reason? 🤷

~Liza
Click to expand...
:rolleyes:

You can have whatever reasons you please. I really couldn’t care less. The general public thinks of the Salvation Army as the freezing volunteers ringing the bell outside stores at Christmas time and as an organization that runs children’s homes for orphans and abandoned children. They don’t think of it as a church. I don’t think I was being unreasonable to suggest you and others go a little further in your explanation of why you’d go out of your way to avoid helping the Salvation Army. I wasn’t questioning your reason, I was just asking for a little clarification for anyone who would be turned off by such a statement and not understand what you mean.

Believe it or not, there are hundreds of people who browse through this website and are not Catholic. What do you think they’d think if the first thing they saw was Catholics promoting *going out of their way *to avoid helping the Salvation Army (which they see as a wonderful thing)? Goodness, it’s not much to ask for you or someone else to elaborate and explain that you’re not being malicious.
 
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