Christmas offertory question

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bm71

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Hi,
I’m curious about the christmas offertory , does the money go to the priest for his own pocket? i’m wondering because i wanted to get my priest a gift but i was told that this envelope is his gift, for his own personal use. is this true? this weekend we have 2 envelopes one is for the regular sunday collection and the other one just says christmas offering so can someone please explain?
thanks , merry christmas!
 
I have never heard this and this is not how it is done in my diocese.
The Christmas collection is seperate from the regular weekly collection, but it goes to the general parish fund.

Many parishioners give the priests gifts, but never through the collection basket.
 
The collection does not go to the priest. That would be almost unthinkable.
 
ok thats what i thought, it didn’t sound right to me at all! thanks so much
 
bm71 said:
Hi,
I’m curious about the christmas offertory , does the money go to the priest for his own pocket? i’m wondering because i wanted to get my priest a gift but i was told that this envelope is his gift, for his own personal use. is this true? this weekend we have 2 envelopes one is for the regular sunday collection and the other one just says christmas offering so can someone please explain?
thanks , merry christmas!
Click to expand...
That depends on where you live. In some places, the Christmas collection does go to the pastor. In some places, this custom is no longer practiced.

If it’s your intention that it go to him, the best thing to do is put it in a plain envelope and write his name on the outside–that way, there’s no question of where it will go.
 
FrDavid96 said:
That depends on where you live. In some places, the Christmas collection does go to the pastor. In some places, this custom is no longer practiced.

If it’s your intention that it go to him, the best thing to do is put it in a plain envelope and write his name on the outside–that way, there’s no question of where it will go.
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To be extra certain it goes to him, make it in the form of cheque with his name on it.
 
bm71 said:
Hi,
i was told that this envelope is his gift, for his own personal use. is this true? !
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told by whom? ask the bookkeeper of the parish if this is true where you live.

parishes that use envelopes usually provide one for Sundays, and one for each Holy Day, so this year is no different, they just happen to fall on the same day.

there is a separate offering for holy days because there are expenses the parish incurs in having the church in use on that day, and extra expense connected with Advent and Christmas, also Lent and Easter, and these offerings help defray the extra expense. The Sunday collection pays the regular overhead, maintenance, salaries and so forth. The parish is required to publish a financial statement each year that says where the money comes from and where it goes.

If you want to send a monetary or any other gift to the pastor, write a check or wrap a package with his name on it, and address it to his residence, so it is very clear it is a personal gift. If it goes in the regular collection, made out the St. Elsewhere Church, even with his name on the memo line it will probably end up in the parish funds, and incidentally be taxed to the diocese as well. There are strict rules on how money taken up in the offertory collection during Mass must be handled, and it is not the place for personal gifts.
 
In England and Wales, the convention is that priests are housed and fed and have all the costs of their ministry met by the church out of the regular collections. The collections at Christmas and Easter are a personal gift to the priests. This is their only cash income and they use this to buy non-clerical clothes, golf equipment and iPads. Different arrangements have to be made for the married priests we have acquired from the Anglican church and I suspect one of the reasons for the Ordinariate is to separate regular clergy from salaried clergy.

I usually have to make the announcement at Christmas that the collection is your personal gift to the priests. The priests rely on your providence. Deacons and MCs have to rely on Divine Providence.
 
jimrob said:
In England and Wales, the convention is that priests are housed and fed and have all the costs of their ministry met by the church out of the regular collections. The collections at Christmas and Easter are a personal gift to the priests. This is their only cash income and they use this to buy non-clerical clothes, golf equipment and iPads. Different arrangements have to be made for the married priests we have acquired from the Anglican church and I suspect one of the reasons for the Ordinariate is to separate regular clergy from salaried clergy.

I usually have to make the announcement at Christmas that the collection is your personal gift to the priests. The priests rely on your providence. Deacons and MCs have to rely on Divine Providence.
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If they get salaries then how are the Christmas and Easter collections their only cash income?
 
We depend on the Christmas collection to keep the parish running. It is usually a very generous collection. This year we lose out on Sunday and New Year collection because the Holy Days are on Sunday.
 
bm71 said:
Hi,
I’m curious about the christmas offertory , does the money go to the priest for his own pocket? i’m wondering because i wanted to get my priest a gift but i was told that this envelope is his gift, for his own personal use. is this true? this weekend we have 2 envelopes one is for the regular sunday collection and the other one just says christmas offering so can someone please explain?
thanks , merry christmas!
Click to expand...
Im assuming that depends on your parish/diocese.
 
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