Donation to Priest/church for convalidation?

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Alicewyf

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Okay, so we are having our convalidation ceremony on March 16th. We are really excited! 😃 I know I want to make a donation, but I have two questions:
  1. How much is appropriate? In cash or a check?
    and
  2. Do we donate to the church, or to the priest performing the ceremony? I’m not sure which is what we’re supposed to do.
We are not having an elaborate ceremony at all. We aren’t having a wedding mass, and there will be no music or anything fancy like that. There will be 20 people there, max. We are inviting the priest over for cake and a light dinner afterwards with our family and friends.

Any advice? Thanks in advance!
 
muey romantico, congratulations
the parish should tell you if there is a fee for using the church, and if there is a standard stipend for the priest
if not, a rule of thumb some parishes suggest is to pay the priest or deacon an amount comparable to the hourly rate charged by any professional in your area, and for not less than a full hour for each part of the hour he is there (include the rehearsal in this) and pay the church an amount comparable to what you would for renting a meeting room in a local hotel for an hour. Obviously that would be adjustable according to what you can afford. Some parishes charge nothing for parishioners, others do simply to cover overhead. For instance here, because we have to turn on A/C early in the day most months of the year to make it comfortable for an evening wedding, that can run over $100 not counting any other costs–custodian, sacristan etc.

ask at the parish office
 
Don’t forget the priest has to write the homily. Leaving out the music does nothing to affect the Priest’s stipend. Musicians get paid seperately. I have seen normal priest stipends range anywhere from $100 - $400. And then yes, the use of church buildings is often extra. puzzleannie is right, the only way to know for sure is to ask the office. I’m surprised they didn’t let you know when you set the date.
 
**Our marriage was convalidated after the 5:30 mass on a Saturday…Father came in and our son was a witness and the deacons wife…afterwards we went to a good restaurant for dinner and the other priest joined us…The ceremony was brief…vows, blessing the rings…done…

We gave the officating priest $100…I have no idea if it has to go to the parish or not…probably not. This Father helped us immensely in anyway he could.

stormy**
 
Thanks for the replies. We can’t really afford too much, but taking everything into account I am going to err on the larger side of our budget. Thanks so much!
 
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