Does your Parish or Church Charge Families for CCD, Religous Education or Sunday School?

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bottom line: Most Protestants tithe, so they can afford the programs they deem necessary to their mission. Specifically their congregations typically have paid childrens and youth pastors and ministers, and resources to support education, evangelization and ministry to them. Catholics for the most part do not tithe because Catholics for the most part reject stewardship spirituality. Parishes that do tithe can afford everything they need for their mission, including in many cases subsidized Catholic school tuition, as well as RE for adults, youth and children.

That is the way it should be, but my parish does not even contribute at a level to meet current expenses, even though it is one of the more affluent parishes in the diocese. For whatever reason, tithing is not preache here. My job is to recruit and train volunteers for the religious education and sacramental preparation of children and youth of the parish. My limited budget, which also includes adult evangelization and RCIA, barely meets the base expenses and does not come close to meeting the true costs of providing a quality program. How do you suggest we pay the rest of the costs?

IMO Catholics who do not tithe themselves should not criticize how their parishes meet expenses. Catholics who do not become involved in RE or any other parish programs should not criticize how the programs are implemented.
 
puzzleannie said:
IMO Catholics who do not tithe themselves should not criticize how their parishes meet expenses. Catholics who do not become involved in RE or any other parish programs should not criticize how the programs are implemented.
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Myself I tithe and I’m the part-time CRE. Put in an extra 40 hours this last weekend at a Catholic Youth Convention. I get 12 hours a week in salary.

It was a blessing to see the Youth learn more about thier faith.
 
puzzleannie said:
bottom line: Most Protestants tithe, so they can afford the programs they deem necessary to their mission. Specifically their congregations typically have paid childrens and youth pastors and ministers, and resources to support education, evangelization and ministry to them. Catholics for the most part do not tithe because Catholics for the most part reject stewardship spirituality. Parishes that do tithe can afford everything they need for their mission, including in many cases subsidized Catholic school tuition, as well as RE for adults, youth and children.

That is the way it should be, but my parish does not even contribute at a level to meet current expenses, even though it is one of the more affluent parishes in the diocese. For whatever reason, tithing is not preache here. My job is to recruit and train volunteers for the religious education and sacramental preparation of children and youth of the parish. My limited budget, which also includes adult evangelization and RCIA, barely meets the base expenses and does not come close to meeting the true costs of providing a quality program. How do you suggest we pay the rest of the costs?

IMO Catholics who do not tithe themselves should not criticize how their parishes meet expenses. Catholics who do not become involved in RE or any other parish programs should not criticize how the programs are implemented.
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I agree with this summary whole-heartedly! Also, I appreciate people like the original poster who do tithe and/or contribute to their RE program. There is so much that the parishoners in the pews can do to help the RE and evangelization in the parish.
 
If your Parish has a good Time, Talent, and Treasue program, then no one should have to pay for CCD books.

100 families at a nominal income of 50,000 a year should yield 500,000 in TITHES. Do the math.

If you church has 200 families and the church is taking in 500,000 a year, then somthing is amiss. No?
 
hi, thanks for the great question. I left the Catholic church many years ago, to the Lutheran church. we would NEVER charge for CCD classes or VBS.

But having said that, I’m looking to come back to my roots.
 
Bennie_P said:
One of my pet peeves concerning my parish is that for Parish Religous Education Classes, (CCD) we charge the families of the Parish to allow thier children to attend.(no child is refused based on ability to pay). It is mainly for the families who send thier children to public school and would not receive religous education otherwise.

Is this common practice for parishes around the US, and elsewhere?

This question is for Catholics, but I would like Protestants to comment on thier religous education/Sunday School practices also.

In HIs Name.
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I am the Coordinator of Religious Education for my parish. We charge a $50 registration fee per student, with a maximum of $100 per family. We also charge a $20 book and supplies fee per student. No student is ever turned away because their family lacks the means to pay. Also, there is no charge for the children of volunteer catechists.

With regard to “ability to pay”: I don’t know if this is a Code of Canon Law issue, or if it is an Archdiocesan issue, but in our parish, we take this seriously. We subsidize many children whose families would not otherwise be able to participate.

Frankly, I have no difficulty with the fees that we charge. We run a deficit as it is, and are subsidized by the parish general fund to the tune of 60% of our budget. Even with the fees, both paid employees (like myself) and volunteer catechists spend a good deal of their personal funds making the program work.

If a parish is financially able to underwrite the entire Religious Education program – praise God from Whom all blessings flow! But we’re not at that place – and I suspect that many, if not most parishes are not either.
 
I agree that parents may take more responsibility if they pay something, at least, if not all the cost of educating their children. Some here have said that learning the faith is a necessity and should be free, but food and shelter are also necessities and must be paid for as well, unless one is growing their own food (still a small cost, I guess) and building their own shelter from trees. I suppose an analogy here could be that the families could also teach their own kids the faith if they don’t wish to support the program their kids are in.
 
Bennie_P said:
Myself I tithe and I’m the part-time CRE. Put in an extra 40 hours this last weekend at a Catholic Youth Convention. I get 12 hours a week in salary.

It was a blessing to see the Youth learn more about thier faith.
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please, critics of CCD programs take note, the title CRE – “catechist runs everything” – usually refers to a part-time coordinator of religious education, who is either paid part-time hourly, a stipend, or completely volunteer (no benefits either way) and I have yet to hear of one who puts in less than 40 hours a week for 20 hours pay. Very few get expenses reimbursed, either. One of my pet peeves is Catholics who expect others to subsidize the programs that meet their needs through volunteering their own time, talent and treasure, yet feel no need to tithe their own resources for the benefit of others.
 
I am the church treasurer of a Presbyterian chuirch in Canada. All Christian education materials are paid ffrom the church budget.
 
My parish asking for compelsary church support fund of $125/month for admission in catechism classes in addition to $100/annum fee for books and services. Is it legal.
 
jameskottaram said:
My parish asking for compelsary church support fund of $125/month for admission in catechism classes in addition to $100/annum fee for books and services. Is it legal.
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Welcome to CAF! 👋

I would encourage you to discuss your concerns with the DRE or the pastor. No priest I have ever met would ever turn someone away for inability to pay the fee.
 
I last replied to this thread 6 years (and a couple of jobs ago). Our fees are among the lowest in the area, and we turn no one away for lack of ability to pay.

$125.00 per month seems excessive . . . perhaps a typo? $125.00 per year sounds more reasonable, though $125.00 plus $100.00 for materials does seem to me to be a bit steep.
 
We charge $155 per family plus $45 each additional child after the first one. Our fees are about average for our diocese. Our program costs several hundred thousand to run. We have over 1600 kids and thete are a good number who can’t pay, then there are others who refuse to pay. If those who refuse would ay we would be able to lower our costs or provide more for the kids.
 
Ours asks a “suggested donation” of $25 per child, with a cap for larger families. We have a lot of families who are very poor, so I would guess some cannot pay even that, but no family who wants to register is turned away.

Most of the Protestant churches in the area have free Sunday school, VBS, etc, but they also preach that members should donate 10% of their income, hold frequent fundraisers, and often sell merchandise to help raise money for the church and its programs.
 
I attend the parrish I grew up in which now serves and impovrished community. I was shocked to learm the ccd is $140 dollars and with an additional late fee of $35 for tardy applicants. I thought this was high. Then I learned the neighboring parrish charges $175!
 
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