N
nolibee
Guest
I belong to my current Roman Catholic Parish for 29 years. I just received a phone call and an official letter from the pastor asking me to pledge a specific amount of money for the next 5 years. I was also asked to come to an information meeting, which I attended. In the meeting, there was a video of what they intend to do with the money raised. It is more than 100 million. At the same time, they already spent 9 million to pay a consultant from another country (non catholic) to come up with a Diocesan-wide fund raising program.
Funds raised will be spent on programs that I feel should already be in place. An example would be supporting vocations to religious life. I asked if we will be sponsoring seminarians who can’t afford their tuition. The answer was no. The money will only be used to help with formation.
One big use of the fund is build new churches. An allocation of 10-14 million will be for building a new church every year. I asked if the allocation will be given for free. I was told it is an interest-free loan that they will have to pay back.
I fail to see anything concrete that the 100million will be used for. Most projects are to ‘collaborate’, ‘encourage’ and ‘pray’. None of those seem to need much funding.
My question is: Is this practice of telling me how much to give, Catholic? They claim it is based on how much I already give. I know how much I give and they are asking for 5 times what I normally give… on top of my offertory offerings. I have been a Catholic for 68 years, been a parishioner of churches from 4 different countries. This is the only time I am being asked to give a specific amount, over a specific period of time. I have always felt that in the Catholic Church, what we give is between us and God.
Funds raised will be spent on programs that I feel should already be in place. An example would be supporting vocations to religious life. I asked if we will be sponsoring seminarians who can’t afford their tuition. The answer was no. The money will only be used to help with formation.
One big use of the fund is build new churches. An allocation of 10-14 million will be for building a new church every year. I asked if the allocation will be given for free. I was told it is an interest-free loan that they will have to pay back.
I fail to see anything concrete that the 100million will be used for. Most projects are to ‘collaborate’, ‘encourage’ and ‘pray’. None of those seem to need much funding.
My question is: Is this practice of telling me how much to give, Catholic? They claim it is based on how much I already give. I know how much I give and they are asking for 5 times what I normally give… on top of my offertory offerings. I have been a Catholic for 68 years, been a parishioner of churches from 4 different countries. This is the only time I am being asked to give a specific amount, over a specific period of time. I have always felt that in the Catholic Church, what we give is between us and God.