Do priests require fees to perform marriages?

[Momonamission]

I was just wondering if all priests now require a fee to perform a marriage ceremony or if this is just something in our parish. When my husband and I were married we gave the priest a thank-you note with a monetary donation – I think it was $25. My niece recently wed and was required to pay $150, due a month before the ceremony. This was not for the usage of the church, that was an additional $300, but specifically the priest’s fee.

Just wondering if this is now standard policy.

 

[Michelle_Arnold]

I have elsewhere strenuously defended parishes charging what seems to many to be unreasonably high fees for use of the parish for weddings (see posts linked here, here, and here). Even so, for priests to charge a “fee” for their personal service – and one that seems to be on the high side at that – to be “due” a month before the ceremony, which implies that the ceremony won’t be performed if the money is not forthcoming, seems odd. Certainly it isn’t standard protocol, at least so far as I know. I recommend calling the diocese and asking for clarification of the practice of priestly stipends, both for the current rate in your area and for the permissible consequences to the couple for a failure to pay. Further information on issues like this can be obtained from the St. Joseph Foundation.