Is it reasonable for a Catholic School Teacher to skip tithe due to taking a lower salary

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Thefishwife

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My husband is a catholic school teacher, and while he loves it, he makes about $12,000 per year less or around 80% of what he would make at a public school. In addition to that he has very poor benefits. This compensation package is not enough for our family to live off as a single income when in comparison if he were in a public school, it would be.

Because we choose for him to work at the catholic school, I do not have the option to stay home with out children as I would like to, so I do go to work. I am fine with this, but I have suggested to him that perhaps we could save as much as we can financially so that someday as our family grows larger, we might have enough of a nest egg to allow me to start staying home with our kids.

This is where the question of tithing comes in. We are wondering if his willingness to take the lower salary and benefits in addition to his increased time commitment (since he teaches 6 different courses instead of 1 or 2 courses 2-3x each per day as he would at a public school) could be considered our family’s “tithe”. This would allow us to save up from my income much more quickly and perhaps allow us to get to a point where I could stay home with my babes.

We have heard the adage “give until it hurts”, but I feel like this applies since this choice for him has dramatically altered what our life looks like. If he were making $50k with no health insurance costs rather than $38k with $8k in health insurance costs then I would be staying home with our kids. Is it bad to consider this our yearly sacrifice for furthering the Kingdom of God? Part of me feels selfish, but I also see all of our catholic friends who have moms that stay home and husbands that make $50k+ a year and I feel like we are paying a price and making a sacrifice.

(Side note - We have been tithing about 10% per year, but he is taking a pay cut this year due to some changes at school. Also, he won’t be getting as many raises in the future compared to the public schools as the catholic school stops raises after 8 years where as the public school gives them through 38 years, so the range will get even wider. At it’s widest there could be a $20-40k difference in pay depending on my husband’s education level. The catholic school caps out at the low $40k range and the public school caps out in the low $80k range. Its really this lack of any acceleration in the future that is making me rethink our strategy. As you know, expenses go up every year, but if we aren’t seeing any pay increased - or very little - it may make getting to my goal of stay at home parent elusive.)
 
There is no rule that you have to tithe 10% in the Catholic Church.
But at the same time, you shouldn’t try to justify giving less by saying your husband makes less as a teacher in Catholic school and that’s your tithing. Lots a people have job in that income range. They either give what they can or they don’t. Give what you can.
 
I find that once I start to try to rationalize my actions concerning things of faith, it is me trying to ease my conscience - not do what I ought.
 
As you are under no obligation to tithe I suggest you review your family spending and settle on a figure for supporting your parish that is both prudent and doable.

I have no idea where you got the idea that tithing is a necessity, but your family’s financial - and emotional - security should be your first concern.
 
Thefishwife said:
If he were making $50k with no health insurance costs rather than $38k with $8k in health insurance costs then I would be staying home with our kids. Is it bad to consider this our yearly sacrifice for furthering the Kingdom of God?
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I think you should give what you feel you can, regardless of the job either of you has (it doesn’t have to be ten percent). Think of staying at home with your kids as a separate issue, not something you should “trade” for. Either you can afford to stay home with the kids or not. Then decide how much you can afford to give to the church. I can’t imagine that decreasing the amount you give to the church would make such a drastic impact that suddenly it’s affordable to stay home.

Also- do the public school teachers you know really have no health insurance costs? I don’t know about teaching specifically- my husband doesn’t make a lot but we have pretty good benefits and still spend around $8500 a year just in premiums, and that’s with his employer paying 75% of those premiums.
 
As a public school teacher, I can say that your husband is absolutely making a tithing sacrifice with that schedule and salary.

From what I understand, few Catholic school teachers actually follow the faith these days (at least in my area), so your family is definitely making a decision to benefit the parish.
 
Yes

It’s not just treasure but time and talent as well.
 
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I’d read the Scriptural account of the widow’s mite.

The 10% tithe is not law on Catholics, it is required we support our parish in time, talent and treasure (not “or”) and that we give alms.

You decide what cut you wish to give to God.
 
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We are all required to support the material needs of the Church according to our ability. That is the requirement, failure to follow it is grave matter. But one can see that the precept clearly leaves it up to our prudential judgement as to what is our ability. There is no requirement for 10%, some people should be giving more than that, others cannot afford to give anywhere near that much.

Having managed the finances of a Catholic school for a few years, I understand exactly what you, @Thefishwife , are going through. Most Catholic schools could not function without who are willing to sacrifice their personal finances for the good of the church. That sacrifice is most certainly supporting the material needs of the Church. How much further you can give beyond that sacrifice is up to you.
 
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Sounds like he’s getting a pretty lousy deal from the Catholic school.

Less pay for more work.

Maybe they should read Rerum Novarum.
 
And herein lies the problem. This is an excellent point that illustrates a much larger issue. In our diocese, the Catholic schools are heavily, and I mean HEAVILY, subsidized by the parish. To the point where if the parishes stopped supporting the Catholic schools, they would quite literally have to close their doors overnight, or so drastically raise tuition as to make it unfeasible for all but the very wealthy.

What does this mean at brass tacks? It means that the amount rank and file Catholics contribute to their parishes has a direct impact on salaries for Catholic school personnel and lay staff. The weekly collection doesn’t just go to pay out insurance premiums, keep the lights on, and bring in speakers to give parish missions.

In an ideal world, yes, we’d all follow Rerum Novarum to a T. But we don’t live in an ideal world. We live in the real world, and in the real world, Catholics are notoriously stingy. Not everyone, mind you. But many are. Many have thrown the same $5.00 in the offertory every week for ten years. Just with inflation, the value of those $5.00 isn’t the same today as it was yesterday, let alone ten years ago. This is why I really believe, and encourage, people to give a percentage of their income. 10% is ideal (the Biblical “tithe”). But if a family thinks they can’t do 10%, start with five. Heck, start with 1%. On a $50,000 per year income, 1% is $500. How many Catholics making that kind of money give $500 to the Church each year? It’s not many. Fewer give 5% ($2,500), and fewer still the Biblical tithe ($5,000). Don’t get me wrong…some people are exceedingly generous and give MORE than that (both in terms of percentage and total dollars). But the point remains…the Church preaches “just wages.” It’s part of Catholic social teaching. But we don’t do it ourselves. Why not? Because most parishes don’t have the money. Why not? Because, generally speaking, Catholics don’t contribute financially to their parish.
 
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Thefishwife said:
This is where the question of tithing comes in. We are wondering if his willingness to take the lower salary and benefits in addition to his increased time commitment (since he teaches 6 different courses instead of 1 or 2 courses 2-3x each per day as he would at a public school) could be considered our family’s “tithe”. This would allow us to save up from my income much more quickly and perhaps allow us to get to a point where I could stay home with my babes.
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Tithing isn’t required in the Catholic church. Give what you’re comfortable with. I would expect that you’d give something, but perhaps not as much as a tithe.
 
Thefishwife said:
My husband is a catholic school teacher, and while he loves it, he makes about $12,000 per year less or around 80% of what he would make at a public school
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I’ve been thinking about this for the last few days, trying to come up with what I’d like to convey in a way that makes some sense.

With any job we take, there come opportunity costs. I work for a nonprofit and I make less in my role than I would at a for profit. I also used to work in IT and made a decision to move out of IT even though IT pays more. Prior to IT I was a teacher, and so I do know about that pay scale also.

The Church calls on us to support our parish materially through time, talent, and treasure. You cannot say your “treasure” is given through not taking a higher paying job and that your tithe is your opportunity cost. We all have those.

If you accept the opportunity cost of taking a certain job, then you make your budget with what you do make, and that includes your charitable giving— and you live within your budget.

If a person has a job at X employer, they cannot say the difference between that and what they “could” make at Y employer is their tithe.

You are free to work for Y employer if you need a higher income. If you choose X employer, do so knowing you are going to forego some things to do so.

There may be qualitative benefits to working for X employer that aren’t monetary. That’s great, but we are still all called to support the Church materially according to our means.

That brings us to tithing— which the Church does not require. Time and talent are certainly part of what we give, but prayerfully discerning how much to give monetarily is a responsibility. But it does not have to be 10% of income. If you can do so, that’s wonderful. If not, put an amount you can affford in your budget and prayerfully consider what you give.
 
Just out of curiosity do you have a link to any church teaching on the subject of having to give time and talent to the church? It’s not something I’ve come across often, I think one examination of conscience mentioned it and I was surprised.

I was never involved in my parish back home - I guess I could have joined a choir or been a reader but there are already singers and readers. I haven’t committed to a parish in my new city. I oscillate between 4 parishes because I live at the border of 3 parishes and the 4th one has more Sunday mass times than the others. I guess I technically live within the bounds of one of them but it’s not the one I attend the most often. I sometimes get asked to do a reading or bring up gifts which I will do but that’s about it.
 
ShrodingersCat said:
Just out of curiosity do you have a link to any church teaching on the subject of having to give time and talent to the church? It’s not something I’ve come across often, I think one examination of conscience mentioned it and I was surprised.
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One will not find a single line in the Cathechism that states this.

It happens as one grows in Faith. The further one progresses in the spiritual life, the more one sees that all we have and all we are is because of God.

We start to see “present your bodies as a living sacrifice” and we want to give more than just a $5 in the basket. Especially when we are not financially set, we can give that $5, or even $1, and we can give on top of that of our time and out talents.

I doubt there is any parish in the world, at least in the Western world, that will tell you “we just have too many volunteers!!”. People no longer give their time to their parish, they are no longer willing to come and help the Rel Ed teacher in a classroom for 90 minutes each week, or to stay after the parish supper and clean up.

When you really love another person, you want to give them all three. Same goes for a relationship with Christ.
 
TheLittleLady said:
One will not find a single line in the Cathechism that states this.
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Absence in the Catechism doesn’t mean it isn’t Church teaching (not saying you are implying this, just clarifying for the OP).

As each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God’s varied grace" (1 Pt 4:10)
 
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Right… but what if I want to give of my time and talent elsewhere? There is a local charity that I really like and want to volunteer with. I also volunteer (on top of my full time job) on the committee of a community arts group. I don’t necessarily understand why it’s important that I specifically volunteer with my parish. That being said, Little Lady might be right and I’ll eventually grow in that direction.
 
Nothing says we cannot volunteer with other groups, agencies, however I’d put the parish first in my priority list.
 
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