Current Customary Stipend Amount for a House Blessing

[Marauder]

So…the current customary stipend for a house blessing is…?

It varies diocese to diocese, parish by parish. Its best to just call the parish secretary or ask the priest. If you can afford it, figure about $10-$20 adding some money if the priest has to drive a long distance for gas.

 

[pablope]

So…the current customary stipend for a house blessing is…?

Ha ha ha…with all the discussion…anyway…a gift card would do…I would say $50 if you can afford it…less if you cannot, may be half.

 

[centurionguard]

It’s not “paying for a blessing”. sigh This idea really needs to be gotten rid of. It’s simply showing your appreciation for your priest’s time and energy. How many of us go to restaurants and tip our servers without thinking twice about whether or not it’s absurd to pay someone for doing her job?

It’s not “paying for a blessing”. sigh This idea really needs to be gotten rid of. It’s simply showing your appreciation for your priest’s time and energy.

Exactly; my family has a retired parish priest who’s a very close friend of the family in our Archdiocese whom we’ve called upon in urgent matters of sickness or sacramental need.
The beloved priest was happy to come to our aid in the past. We’ve sent him Christmas and Easter cards with money in them for his own personal use. I never thought of them as stipends per say. Inviting ones priest for a family supper meal is another way of showing sincere gratitude. I couldn’t conceive of any family having a priest come to your home as being anything else as but most blessed, honorable, and truly heart warming.
Its certainly not something one takes for granted as an everyday occurance.
Sadly this most beloved priest health is not very well.

 

[TrueLight]

I think people have a hard time with the idea of a stipend, including myself because a blessing is seen as something spiritual. Some of us are from faith communities where there would never be any published fees for anything but a wedding.

Although I understand the idea of showing one’s appreciation by sending a gift card or making dinner, or making sure the priest had transportation to and from my house, the idea of handing money over like a transaction still doesn’t sit right with me.

 

[gh4]

I would offer in the 20-25$ range. Of course, it’s only about 3 minutes from the parish to my house.

Our priest is paid, he makes roughly $40,000 a year and has health insurance and free housing and utilities. He has to pay for his car and travel expenses and all his personal expenses. He also helps take care of his Mother and his brother, so I’m sure he’s living lean. We are very good to our priest, we (the parish folk) take him out to eat often, cook for him and buy him vestments and such when he needs them.

We are a retirement town and he makes more than most of us do!!!

 

[Philomeena]

Priests dont get a salary?

Diocesan priests do NOT take a vow of poverty and indeed they do get a salary, health insurance, car allowance, food allowance, a home to live in, etc. In some cases they have cooks and housekeepers provided to them. They have many times received an excellent education at little cost to them…so no student loans. The salary they get is pretty much disposable income…which is fine…but to say they don’t get a salary is simply not true. Also, the European travel…if it is a group of say, 10 or more who go on a trip, the priest goes for free. I am not begrudging anyone this…just pointing out that they do get paid and they get paid surprisingly well…
The stipends go back to the time when priests did not get a salary…the fact that we still “charge” for masses being said, etc. when they do receive a salary and many other perks seems a bit strange. Of course, any generosity, gratefulness or thoughtfulness on the part of the parishioner toward the priest for doing these extras is perfectly fine. It is the"charging" that is a problem…and the misconception that they do not receive a salary. Again, I speak of Diocesan priests only.

 

[Deo_Gratias42]

I think people have a hard time with the idea of a stipend, including myself because a blessing is seen as something spiritual. Some of us are from faith communities where there would never be any published fees for anything but a wedding.

Although I understand the idea of showing one’s appreciation by sending a gift card or making dinner, or making sure the priest had transportation to and from my house, the idea of handing money over like a transaction still doesn’t sit right with me.

You’ve never paid a friend or a roommate for helping you move? My roommate helped me haul all my stuff up 3 flights of stairs out of her own free will. She ended up making and extra $40 unexpectedly for her help.

 

[Deo_Gratias42]

TrueLight;9934767:

Priests dont get a salary?

Diocesan priests do NOT take a vow of poverty and indeed they do get a salary, health insurance, car allowance, food allowance, a home to live in, etc. In some cases they have cooks and housekeepers provided to them. They have many times received an excellent education at little cost to them…so no student loans. The salary they get is pretty much disposable income…which is fine…but to say they don’t get a salary is simply not true. Also, the European travel…if it is a group of say, 10 or more who go on a trip, the priest goes for free. I am not begrudging anyone this…just pointing out that they do get paid and they get paid surprisingly well…
The stipends go back to the time when priests did not get a salary…the fact that we still “charge” for masses being said, etc. when they do receive a salary and many other perks seems a bit strange. Of course, any generosity, gratefulness or thoughtfulness on the part of the parishioner toward the priest for doing these extras is perfectly fine. It is the"charging" that is a problem…and the misconception that they do not receive a salary. Again, I speak of Diocesan priests only.

Mass stipends do have a somewhat symbolic aspect to them. We are contributing something of our own offering to the priest with the Mass intention.

 

[zab]

Well, I know that it is customary in our parish to give a monetary gift to the priest for baptisms, weddings and funerals. But the gift for having the priest come to bless your house is usually an invitation to dinner or dessert