Do money contributions to the church (if obligatory) go against church teaching?

[DiscipleWithin]

One of our parish Priests had made the following statement to a local newspaper that

“Some Catholic Parents are Hypocrites”, that ‘many local parents are either delusional or hypocritical because they don’t send/take their kids back to mass after they have made their First Communion…’

This statement gained a lot of attention on Facebook, and to be expected were secularists bashing the church on various issues. One of the issues raised was by a woman, who made the following comment -

“Really, he can’t complain about it when people are having to pay for the sarcraments for their families- even though Pope Francis (An actual honest Catholic IMO) has said this should not happen. Just another example of the capitalist shallow nature of some priests. Would any of the bible brigade like to address why these priests are continuing to charge for weddings, funerals & christenings when the head of the Catholic church has deemed this inappropriate??”

The woman went on to say how the Diocese charges a ‘£100 non-refundable’ payment for weddings, and challenged anyone to call the parochial house if they did not believe it to be true.

I contacted one of the priests for clarity, if it was obligatory or not to make such payments, as I would like to shed some light on the issue for these opponents. I personally think that it is a privilege to contribute to God’s church, and I would have no issues with it myself, but it would help greatly if you could elaborate on this topic from your own point of view; a Biblical point of view, and what the church teaching is on making such contributions.

Thank you.
God bless

 

[Fr.Charles_Grondin]

Contributions for sacraments cannot be absolutely required. If anyone actually denied a sacrament because of a lack of a contribution I would venture to say that they’d be in a heap of trouble. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean that the sacrament has to take place in exactly the way the individual(s) want it to. Sacraments like marriage and baptism can take place within Sunday Mass and not a special Mass or liturgy. Obviously all appearances of those receiving sacraments being divided into the “have’s” and the “have not’s” should be avoided but we also have to remember that services outside of regular Mass sometimes require extra use of utilities and personnel that result in extra costs for the parish. The faithful have an absolute right to receive the sacraments in their own parish regardless of their financial status but that doesn’t mean they have an absolute right to a special/personal liturgy.

As for funeral costs, the church is probably the cheapest of all the funeral costs (much like weddings). However, once again, a funeral fee cannot be strictly required. Canon law guarantees the right of the faithful to the Rites of Christian Burial. I can’t for the life of me recall when I’ve heard of a funeral being denied because of a family’s lack of ability to pay a funeral fee.

From what I have seen, when someone claims they were denied a sacrament because of a fee it is usually a misunderstanding.