Church and dontations

[tafan]

One more thought: although I do not generally approve of reducing sunday contributions to the parish as a means of giving a “message to the pastor that something is wrong”, it is much more effective if you have a history of using envelopes. Our parish went through a some rather disruptive demographic changes. These are difficult to deal with. At one point, reduction in some parishioners’ contributions did help us identify people to contact to get a “feeling for the state of the parish” and better understand how we could keep our traditional people served while adjusting to the hispanic influx we were seeing.

 

[CountrySinger]

Hee. My parish just sent me another letter! general gist of letter

“According to our records, we see that you CountrySinger haven’t not given to our parish in the last few weeks.Please consider giving up something to help support our programs and our parish. Blah blah blah more random sentences about how many people are in the parish”

Really? What programs are those? I prefer my coffee every morning, it does more for me than you could, and I appreciate being harassed at home by mail as well. I’m tempted to ask them how much it cost to send out the letters to people.

looks up new less money grubbing parish

 

[tafan]

Hee. My parish just sent me another letter! general gist of letter

“According to our records, we see that you CountrySinger haven’t not given to our parish in the last few weeks.Please consider giving up something to help support our programs and our parish. Blah blah blah more random sentences about how many people are in the parish”

Really? What programs are those? I prefer my coffee every morning, it does more for me than you could, and I appreciate being harassed at home by mail as well. I’m tempted to ask them how much it cost to send out the letters to people.

looks up new less money grubbing parish

Been there, done that. I suspect your parish is suddenly struggling financially and having a tough time deciding how to address it. The finance council probably decided to make a plea for help to those who have reduced giving. It is a reasonable thing to do. But not effective.

I certainly do not understand why it would upset you to receive such a letter. It is certainly not harrassmen. Of course, if you prefer coffee in the morning more than the sacraments, well…

 

[CountrySinger]

Been there, done that. I suspect your parish is suddenly struggling financially and having a tough time deciding how to address it. The finance council probably decided to make a plea for help to those who have reduced giving. It is a reasonable thing to do. But not effective.

I certainly do not understand why it would upset you to receive such a letter. It is certainly not harrassmen. Of course, if you prefer coffee in the morning more than the sacraments, well…

The sacraments don’t give me energy that I need to work, so I can make money. If I have to get up at 5 am to work, I need my coffee! I just feel singled out, and now I am less likely to give them anything (I’m the type of person who doesn’t respond to pleas or commands).

It doesn’t “upset” me, but when I receive a letter every week, it kind of annoys me, but it is also funny. They always seem to arrive on my payday as well.
If they were less desperate and not so annoying with the constant barrage of letters (appearing desperate is not good), I might be more inclined, but now I’m thinking about leaving there for good. I found another parish that is a little farther, but it reminds me of my old hometown parish. It is sad, but parishes are in a free market as well, and people have a right to go to one they like, and support those.

 

[mommamia]

The sacraments don’t give me energy that I need to work, so I can make money. If I have to get up at 5 am to work, I need my coffee! I just feel singled out, and now I am less likely to give them anything (I’m the type of person who doesn’t respond to pleas or commands).

It doesn’t “upset” me, but when I receive a letter every week, it kind of annoys me, but it is also funny. They always seem to arrive on my payday as well.
If they were less desperate and not so annoying with the constant barrage of letters (appearing desperate is not good), I might be more inclined, but now I’m thinking about leaving there for good. I found another parish that is a little farther, but it reminds me of my old hometown parish. It is sad, but parishes are in a free market as well, and people have a right to go to one they like, and support those.

So you attend Mass weekly at this church, but giving a couple bucks to help pay for electric, water, building costs etc… is more than you think you need to do?

I just don’t understand. I’ve lived in an area where I was very unhappy with the parish, but I still got to go to Mass every Sunday. Now imagine that there is NO CHURCH, no Mass at all. If the church cannot pay its basic running costs, that could become a reality.

 

[CountrySinger]

So you attend Mass weekly at this church, but giving a couple bucks to help pay for electric, water, building costs etc… is more than you think you need to do?

I just don’t understand. I’ve lived in an area where I was very unhappy with the parish, but I still got to go to Mass every Sunday. Now imagine that there is NO CHURCH, no Mass at all. If the church cannot pay its basic running costs, that could become a reality.

Then I would have more free time on the weekends (more sleep!). Just kidding. Masses here are SO bad, I feel like I’m becoming more atheistic(?) every time I go. If they shut down the parish, it would be no skin off my back. They provide a poor teaching, people will respond with withdrawing their support.