Collection plate

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Polak

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First off, I’m aware that the collection plate being passed around at church isn’t strictly a Catholic thing, but either way, I was wondering

a) When this passing around of the collection plate/basket began? Or was it introduced from the start?

and

b) What your thoughts are on this?

I know that churches need financial support from churchgoers, but the method of passing around a collection plate does bother me a little and in my view, is easy pickings for those who like to criticise the church as just being a business model funded by naive idiots.

It isn’t that I have a problem donating to my church, it’s the idea of the basket being put right in front of people every week and the pressure many people might feel of having to give money. I know you don’t have to give money, but most people do, because others will see it if they do not.

What is even more inappropriate is how sometimes you will sit through a sermon by the priest, who will talk about the dangers of capitalism and how negatively the hunt for money in life has effected people, then a few minutes after the sermon they will pass around the collection plate, for your money.

I go to a Polish church and some weeks they even have two collections [I don’t know if you get this in other churches too?] They have one normal collection and one extra collection later on for a particular cause. These 2-collection weeks seem to be occurring more and more frequently. On average I would say every 3 weeks or so.

As I said, I understand that the church needs to be funded in order to survive and funding from its parishioners is an important part of that, but it’s the way the plate or basket is put in front of people that bothers me a little.

I was thinking, they could just leave the basket or have a box somewhere in the church and then during or after mass, people could put some money in if they wish. The box could be welded in somewhere and locked, with just an opening to put in money, so nobody would steal it obviously. I think people would do it and those who don’t, well perhaps they aren’t that well off financially at the current time, and at least they would feel a bit less pressure to cough up money during a mass.

Yes I know it isn’t obligatory, but it gives a feeling that if you want to be part of a church and worship God, you should pay, and that just doesn’t seem like right message to me.
 
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They can put a nice wooden box with a slit and a message “please help the Church” near the entrance or somewhere visible and leave it there in the hands of God and people’s conscience. Both are real and working, for real.
I think moving around money visibly in the Church is disturbing the people from concentrating on God. It’s like the world enters the Church not the other way around.
I have no problem paying for candles, icons or donating money to Church. In my country (Romania), in EO, we also pay for certain services (baptism, weddings, funerals) and I am okay with that too since there is no strict fee, it’s more like what you discuss with the priest. And this keeps many church restored and clean and there is no discussion about them becoming too simple or too modern. I have no problem with giving the money to the Church or them reminding me that they need it but HOW and WHEN they do it is wrong sometimes, because it’s distracting.
To bring the money collection at the center of the congregation while inside the house of God, to make it public and disturbing is wrong imho. Here it happens after liturgy and it’s like - I was just in a mood, thinking about God and bam! maybe I forgot to bring cash with me, do I have enough money to look decent as I donate? :crazy_face: I am in the church and I already have to worry about worldly things. And I am not saying that if they brought POS the problem would be solved.
If we are to consider the rules for the Temple in the Old Testament, business (money transactions) cannot happen inside the temple. I know this is no longer a strict rule for Christianity and the New Covenant but still…
Not to mention how it must look in the eyes of possible new converts that may be attending the service. Or what do you tell children? “Don’t come to church with empty pockets, because God needs money.” If I were a kid being told that I’d say “Mommy, isn’t God omnipotent? Why does He need money? He can create them.” 😊:crazy_face:
 
The offering is taken up at the same time the bread and wine is brought to the altar. It used to be that people brought chickens, bags of wheat, bread, fruit and vegetables with them which was then given to the needy after Mass. Seems like money or a bank transfer is a little bit easier today or maybe a shepherd should come with his sheep to “move the lawn around the church building”. Fertilisers are then free and no oil is needed for the lawn mover. 🤣

I am thinking of auctioning out coins that people have put in the offering that aren’t a valid currency in the country. “Here is a bag of X € coins. Anyone going to a € country?”. “Someone put their medicine in the offering by accident. Can be picked up from the office at no charge.”
 
You know your at the wrong church when the collection basket has a mouse trap inside of it 😄
 
HeDa said:
Seems like money or a bank transfer is a little bit easier today
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At St James’ Cathedral they have cards with QR codes on them - you can scan it, pay electronically, then drop the card in the collection basket. Came in super handy one Sunday when I realized I’d forgotten cash…
 
We have an app, I usually show the Sent Payment to the church warden during collection.
 
In my parish, you may set up bank drafts for various collections.
 
It’s pretty easy to ignore the collection basket. I usually do, because I do almost all my giving and financial stuff online.

Judging by the large percentages of people who contribute zero money to their parishes, a lot of people have no trouble ignoring it.
 
Taking a collection has been part of the liturgy from the very earliest days of the Church. Here is St. Justin Martyr describing the Mass around the year 150:
And on the day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits; then, when the reader has ceased, the president verbally instructs, and exhorts to the imitation of these good things. Then we all rise together and pray, and, as we before said, when our prayer is ended, bread and wine and water are brought, and the president in like manner offers prayers and thanksgivings, according to his ability, and the people assent, saying Amen; and there is a distribution to each, and a participation of that over which thanks have been given, and to those who are absent a portion is sent by the deacons. And they who are well to do, and willing, give what each thinks fit; and what is collected is deposited with the president [i.e. the priest], who succours the orphans and widows and those who, through sickness or any other cause, are in want, and those who are in bonds and the strangers sojourning among us, and in a word takes care of all who are in need.
– St. Justin Martyr, First Apology, chapter 67 (emphasis added)
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I get what you are saying.
On the other hand, I think people need to be prompted to do the right thing.
I believe people attending Mass are more likely to give, if they have a collection plate or basket passed in front of them.
No one is obligated to give. But I think they are more likely to give if offered this opportunity.
And it is much more convenient to have a plate or basket passed around than it is to find a collection box located somewhere in the Church area.
Also, it is easier to secure the money collected.
As long as I can remember, there have been people who have taken up a collection during Mass. I see nothing wrong with it.
But, this in only my opinion.
 
I don’t see anything wrong with it. The purpose is to worship God by contributing to His church. This is highlighted by it being brought forward along with the bread and wine. I don’t know about elsewhere, but our priests always put the monetary offerings at the foot of the altar, which helps me to visualize the offering as going up to God in thanksgiving.
 
I Googled it. 😆 (Laughing at myself) Of course, it’s US-centric. I’ve never taken notice of what they do in the UK.

www.christianitytoday.com

Passing the Plate

After America ended state support of churches in the early 19th century, the collection of "tithes and offerings" became a standard feature of Sunday morning worship.
www.christianitytoday.com www.christianitytoday.com
 
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The posters who cited the antiquity of the offertory portion of the mass are spot on. It is a tradition of the church and the mass, and should not be done away with. In fact, IMO (and it is just an opinion) electronic giving, credit cards, internet transfers, etc, debase the concept of bringing part of the fruits of your labor and talents and offering it to God. I know that techy folks will disagree, but to me it is like the fact that the church stipulates that only candles made from Beeswax can be used at Mass. No electric lights. It is to remember that days when the church could only meet in secret places such as the Catacombs and the only light available was candlelight. Tradition that reaches back 2000 years and reminds us of the longevity of the church and what it was like in the past is, I think, important.
 
Hmmm, the fruits of my labour lands in my bank account, not in coins and bills.
If I hand over cash the church faces bank fees for counting it when depositing. Which is wasteful.
 
Well, asking for a donation isn’t capitalism. It’s kind of the opposite. 🙂

I don’t feel like the passing of the basket is pressure. I do my giving online. They have little slips at the front door that say, “I gave online” so that online givers who do feel pressured can put that in the basket instead of money – but I haven’t noticed anyone use them.

I work with my local arts center, and I’ve learned through observation and experience that it is absolutely necessary to make the pitch one way or another. People tend to ignore unattended baskets waiting for money. Even when they’re labeled. In the Mass, of course you don’t want to interrupt the liturgy to make an announcement, so passing a basket makes sense.

Since it happens during the Offertory, I’ve always felt it makes sense in that way too – in a currency-based society, the simplest manner in which to offer our own gifts is to offer cash. It’s also the cleanest and least-disruptive option. I’d hate to see what would happen if one of our rural families brought in a sheep!
 
SnowRose said:
Hmmm, the fruits of my labour lands in my bank account, not in coins and bills.
If I hand over cash the church faces bank fees for counting it when depositing. Which is wasteful.
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I’m not so much referring to the actual form of donation, but rather the total impersonalization of forms other than those directly deposited in the collection basket/plate. It is the very act of personally putting something in as an offering, that is consistent with the idea of the bringing of the gifts of bread and wine to the celebrant as a symbol of our participation in the Mass. Our offering the fruits of our labors to God on the altar.
And if your parish has to pay a fee to put money into a bank, tell them to find another bank. That doesn’t happen in my neck of the woods.
 
Pup7 said:
Seems like money or a bank transfer is a little bit easier today

At St James’ Cathedral they have cards with QR codes on them - you can scan it, pay electronically, then drop the card in the collection basket. Came in super handy one Sunday when I realized I’d forgotten cash…
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This is a great idea!!! wished to have this here, too.
 
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