How money is spent

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allisonP

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Hi,
I have a question about how the Catholic church spends it’s money. I see everywhere churches, mostly Protestant, turning into Mega Churches. Millions spent on buildings and furnishings. I am wondering how the Church spends it’s money in regards to it’s many parishes. The Catholic church in my town is very small and plain. About 4 miles away in a more prosperous town is a more fancy Catholic church that has collected (according to it’s website) over 7 million dollars to add on to it’s building.7 Million? I think it is wonderful that people are willing to give to the church, they should of course, but to build buildings? And why not share with less affluent churches? I am curious. Please do not take offense. I am not attacking. Honestly, I am trying to see the good in the Catholic beliefs and your ways. Please help, Thanks!
 
Hi Allison,

I’ve had to weight this question when deciding how much to give to the church regular donation vs. the church restoration fund vs. to charities that help the poor. So I know exactly what you mean that its a confusing situations.

The reasons to help the poor are obvious, I think. So I won’t list those reasons here. I’ll just list the reasons why I think a share of what we give should go to build a nice church building.
  1. We have to admit, we spend a lot on the buildings we live and work in. Somehow we decide how much we need to spend on our house vs. give to charity. However we decide on that, it would be a real shame if we made our own personal dwellings more beautiful than the House of God. If we’re going to cut back on our budget for buildings, I think we can all agree that it would make sense to cut back on what we spend on our homes before cutting back on the Lord’s home. Wouldn’t we all agree on that?
  2. The church building should help us pray. It should have art and an architecture that help us pray.
  3. Most of the money we give to the church every week goes to things other than paying for a building - salaries, heating, utilities, etc. Also many parishes have charities like food banks to help the poor.
So I think its about balance.
 
I wouldn’t speak for protestant denominations, but Catholics view their churches as a true house of God. The churches are not testaments to serving people, they are built to glorify God Himself. The king gets a castle, and Christ the King gets beautiful churches.

Having said that, many Catholic parishes who are very plain either suffer from some measure of fiscal poverty (and thus, the churches are humble)… or theological poverty of misplaced priorities and humbling the church buildings. The preceeding quip is my own humble opinion, and not necessarily the opinion of the Catholic Church… but it should be.
 
allisonP said:
Hi,
I have a question about how the Catholic church spends it’s money. I see everywhere churches, mostly Protestant, turning into Mega Churches. Millions spent on buildings and furnishings. I am wondering how the Church spends it’s money in regards to it’s many parishes. The Catholic church in my town is very small and plain. About 4 miles away in a more prosperous town is a more fancy Catholic church that has collected (according to it’s website) over 7 million dollars to add on to it’s building.7 Million? I think it is wonderful that people are willing to give to the church, they should of course, but to build buildings? And why not share with less affluent churches? I am curious. Please do not take offense. I am not attacking. Honestly, I am trying to see the good in the Catholic beliefs and your ways. Please help, Thanks!
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Dear Allison,

I lived in East Texas for more than a decade…I’m wondering if you are referring to East Texas Parishes?
 
WhollyRoamin said:
I wouldn’t speak for protestant denominations, but Catholics view their churches as a true house of God. The churches are not testaments to serving people, they are built to glorify God Himself. The king gets a castle, and Christ the King gets beautiful churches.

Having said that, many Catholic parishes who are very plain either suffer from some measure of fiscal poverty (and thus, the churches are humble)… or theological poverty of misplaced priorities and humbling the church buildings. The preceeding quip is my own humble opinion, and not necessarily the opinion of the Catholic Church… but it should be.
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Nicely put and I agree with you!
 
The Catholic Church is the largest charity in the world, much of her money is spent on the poor
 
i was just talking this over a little with my mom last night.

i think we need to make our parishes larger. we have too many catholic churches scattered here and there. i would rather travel 25 or 30min and go to beautifully decorated church that the rich and poor go to than travel 5-10min and attend a church that looks stripped. also most of these parishes only have 1 priest. 1 priest is not good. too lonely for him and too busy. there should be a minimum of 3 in my opinion. this way if a priest did something off the wall another priest can call him on it possibly ending a lot of confusion for parishioners. they would also be able to do confession again more often.
 
I think that soliciting money from parishoners for a Church “restoration” project that involved stripping out the high altar, painting over the frescos and tearing out the stained glass windows is unwarranted.

Sadly, that very thing has happened to more than one church in this area. This is yet another thing that separates the protestant churches from the Catholic ones. The idea that the house of God should be opulent is a foreign idea to many (if not all) protestant denominations. Sadly, it is becoming a foreign idea to Catholics whose churches are becoming harder and harder to tell apart from the “faith community” down the street.
 
maurin said:
Dear Allison,

I lived in East Texas for more than a decade…I’m wondering if you are referring to East Texas Parishes?
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No I am not. I live in North Texas.
I can see how the building is built for Gods Glory and not merely a place that would be attractive to people. That makes a difference.
Thanks all!
 
I have a question about how the Catholic church spends it’s money.

Same way your church does–paying the bills.
 
There are three Catholic churchs in our small city up here-ah in Maine.
The two large churches, St. Joseph and St. Andre, were built by the Quebec French who came down here to work in the textile mills. Masses were said in French. The smaller St. Mary church was built to serve the English speaking people.
Eventually the French heritage was lost and all masses were said in English. St. Mary is a very nice church, built of masonry and full of artwork, but it’s much smaller and less spectacular than the two “French” churces and the congregation has grown smaller. They once had a school which was closed and torn down to build a Dunkin Donuts. The rectory was sold and converted to apartments. There is talk that St. Mary will be closed someday.
What does this have to do with money? People will go to a church building that impresses them, inspires them or otherwise makes them feel important to belong to. This recent move to save money by building bland small church buildings will not pay off in the long run. The congregation will wither away and then what do you have left/
 
Cluny said:
I have a question about how the Catholic church spends it’s money.

Same way your church does–paying the bills.
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For the record, I do not have “a church”. One reason I do not is because every time I visit somewhere they either already have a building that took millions to build or they are trying to achieve that. I do not see them just, paying the bills. What bills? Rent or payments to a mortgage? OK, but 10 or 20 thousand a month for that? Electricity? The bigger the building the more it uses. And I could go on…
I went to 2 funerals in the last month and a half. One catholic, one non-denom. Both pretty buildings. The Catholic church invoked a feeling of awe and worship. The non-denom. felt like a mall. Or an amphitheater. Still, both were extravagant and expensive. I am struggling right now with needing financially to go back to work, but I will never make enough money to pay for child care to justify getting a job. How wonderful it would be if a church would spend millions on a free or even low cost child care facility. How much good that would do. No marble flooring maybe, but a community need being met. Just my thoughts…
 
allisonP said:
I am struggling right now with needing financially to go back to work, but I will never make enough money to pay for child care to justify getting a job. How wonderful it would be if a church would spend millions on a free or even low cost child care facility. How much good that would do. No marble flooring maybe, but a community need being met. Just my thoughts…
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I’m just wondering why you think it’s the Church’s function to provide low cost childcare for you. Perhaps if you became a member of a church, and you had no choice but to work, you could meet someone who could help out with childcare.
 
Our parish turned 50 this year. Our first church was a renovated H hut from the days of this community’s construction; our present church, as I understand, was donated to us by the USAF, taken apart and transported from the Base to its present site and rebuilt. If it weren’t for the steeple it would be indistinguishable from most of the commercial/industrial corrugated steel buildings around town.

Inside, it’s similar in style to most military chapel I’ve been in. Nothing grand and since it dates back to the late 60s, no marble altars etc.

Our expenses are modest for a parish with 450+ families, with a part time secretary (position cut to 12 hr/wk in the summer), less than half-time custodian, 8 hr/wk cook (to be terminated at the end of this month) and a priest. It cost us 250K 10 years ago to redo the electrical system (which had originally been done with free labour and which qualified electricians didn’t want to touch since it was a fire waiting to happen), redo the roof, the heating system etc. Only a major loan from the diocese allowed us to make the necessary repairs and that loan isn’t paid off yet.

Our collections don’t cover the cost of our everyday expenses, often not covering the salaries and electricity. It’s only the good years more than 15 years ago and the wise investments at that time that allow us to keep on going. But the nest egg will soon be gone and I don’t know what we will do then.
 
My Parish sends most of the money to the Archdiocese.

The rest is spent on bills, especially the lights. For staff, renovations, and paying the city on special events when we need peace officers in the streets when we march.

Fund raisers is one we do monthly, church spends several thousand to make a few hundred more in profit. Not much, but the little we do, we must do.

I have heard that my parish supports about… 9 families. This is supposed to be a secret, I don’t know their names.

I suspect a lot of Catholic Parishes support poor families in secret.

Either way, whatever money is left is returned to the Archdiocese to be spent in who knows what.
 
My parish doesn’t have a ‘church’ per se; we have a worship center. This was all the rage in the seventies - to build a multi-purpose building first, and then to build the church later. Most of the time, the church building itself never got built.

So, we have no kneelers, no pews, just chairs. I’m sure most here would be aghast if they had to attend mass at my parish! But, God is there. The sacraments are just as valid, and work just as well.

So, where does the money in our 1.5 million dollar budget go? Some goes to the Diocese. 10 percent goes, off the top, to charity (we tithe as a parish).

The rest goes to running the parish and funding social action and other programs. The pastor has a fund that disburses hundreds, if not thousands, a week to the poor. We have a sister parish or two in Latin America that we support.

No one on staff is getting rich, believe me! The money is going to ministry of one sort or another.

About the buildings - buildings cost a lot to build. Period. Whether it is spartan or ornate, the basic cost of building is high. I don’t think that going along the spartan - opulent scale is as expensive as some think. And maintenance is the same - it’s expensive to cool, heat, and light a church complex.

And, just for reference, there are three churches in a five mile radius that all have over 3500 families each.
 
Phemie said:
Our parish turned 50 this year. Our first church was a renovated H hut from the days of this community’s construction; our present church, as I understand, was donated to us by the USAF, taken apart and transported from the Base to its present site and rebuilt. If it weren’t for the steeple it would be indistinguishable from most of the commercial/industrial corrugated steel buildings around town.

Inside, it’s similar in style to most military chapel I’ve been in. Nothing grand and since it dates back to the late 60s, no marble altars etc.

Our expenses are modest for a parish with 450+ families, with a part time secretary (position cut to 12 hr/wk in the summer), less than half-time custodian, 8 hr/wk cook (to be terminated at the end of this month) and a priest. It cost us 250K 10 years ago to redo the electrical system (which had originally been done with free labour and which qualified electricians didn’t want to touch since it was a fire waiting to happen), redo the roof, the heating system etc. Only a major loan from the diocese allowed us to make the necessary repairs and that loan isn’t paid off yet.

Our collections don’t cover the cost of our everyday expenses, often not covering the salaries and electricity. It’s only the good years more than 15 years ago and the wise investments at that time that allow us to keep on going. But the nest egg will soon be gone and I don’t know what we will do then.
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That is what I mean. Couldn’t a church like the one close to me, that is spending so much to add onto an already large and beautiful building, share their ‘profits’. I mean the community this church I speak of is in a very well to do community,surly they could help?
As far as me expecting a church to provide child care, I do not think they should, I think that it would be a better way to spend money. That is all I meant.
I just do not see Jesus comeing back and saying “Good job! You have a fancy building to hold services in!!” Meanwhile a communities needs are not met. I am not trying to pick on Catholics.From what I have seen Catholics consider beauty and art a gift from God, and something to offer back to him. It just seems that all religions these days want to be more appealing to the public. More attractive to ‘customers’. It feels wrong to me. Sorry if I am offending anyone.😊
 
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allisonP:
That is what I mean. Couldn’t a church like the one close to me, that is spending so much to add onto an already large and beautiful building, share their ‘profits’. I mean the community this church I speak of is in a very well to do community,surly they could help?
As far as me expecting a church to provide child care, I do not think they should, I think that it would be a better way to spend money. That is all I meant.
I just do not see Jesus comeing back and saying “Good job! You have a fancy building to hold services in!!” Meanwhile a communities needs are not met. I am not trying to pick on Catholics.From what I have seen Catholics consider beauty and art a gift from God, and something to offer back to him. It just seems that all religions these days want to be more appealing to the public. More attractive to ‘customers’. It feels wrong to me. Sorry if I am offending anyone.😊

What are you personally doing to meet some of your community’s needs? Maybe you could start a babysitting co-op and earn a little money at home while helping your community. Then you’d be able to contribute to the church, too.
 
For many reasons, I will not babysit another persons child for money, mainly the liability issues. A church on the other hand is already in a position of liability.
I do see your point though about doing my part. My point is that if I am a member and giving money, or my time and work there, then I am doing something. How am I contributing though if my money goes into brick and stone?
I just wish I understood the need for such lavishness…
 
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allisonP said:
For many reasons, I will not babysit another persons child for money, mainly the liability issues. A church on the other hand is already in a position of liability.
I do see your point though about doing my part. My point is that if I am a member and giving money, or my time and work there, then I am doing something. How am I contributing though if my money goes into brick and stone?
I just wish I understood the need for such lavishness…
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I think WhollyRoamin answered that already in post #3.
 
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