Mandatory tithing?

[Feanaro_s_Wife]

Can anyone tell me if the Church ever required/demanded a 10% tithe from it’s members? Specifically here in Canada anywhere from 20 to 50 years ago.

Thanks in advance!

Malia

 

[philipbenedict]

Read the very last sentence on this page.
newadvent.org/cathen/14741b.htm

 

[Feanaro_s_Wife]

philipbenedict:

Read the very last sentence on this page.
newadvent.org/cathen/14741b.htm

Saw it already, but thanks! And no, I don’t live in Quebec.

Malia

 

[AlanFromWichita]

“Mandatory stewardship” which is itself an oxymoron, is required for school children. They have to get a certain number of “ministry points” to graduate. This doesn’t bother me in that we require a certain amount of good works; what does bother me is this is sold as a taste of stewardship. The child has to first perform the service, then as a separate operation fill out a form and get it signed by a witness or person in charge to verify they actually did it.

My own children love to perform service work, but experience a great deal of embarrassment at asking for signatures to prove it because it just seems so petty, and it makes them feel like they’re telling the people in charge they are only doing it to get worldly points. As a result, they have trouble getting points turned in even though they have performed several times the required amount.

Our diocese, the Diocese of Wichita, has a beautiful stewardship program, at least on paper. I happen to have taken formal training in it, and I can tell you that in most parishes it is not what is actually practiced. Actual practices come largely from legacy power-weilding members of different parishes putting their heads together, consulting neither the Word of God nor the stewardship manual, and sometimes directly in contradiction with the manual. Maybe things will improve under this new bishop Jackel; I was hoping for change under Bishop Olmstead but he didn’t stay around very long.

Our diocesan stewardship manual would be a great starting point, I believe, for any diocese (including our own) which wants to embrace stewardship.

Alan

 

[AlanFromWichita]

Oh, in direct response to your question, our diocese/parish does NOT require a 10% tithe. It recommends an 8% tithe to the Church and 2% charity elsewhere, and asks parishioners who have children in school to sign a pledge form to that effect. The form actually does have a place to check that it is not a “true” 8% but we are working toward it, but I haven’t tried checking that box to see what happens!

Alan

 

[puzzleannie]

individual parishes or dioceses may implement tithing programs from time to time, but as a rule the Church resists the “mandatory” aspect as in setting a dollar amount and enforcing the donation. There may be pledge drives ie for building fund or bishop’s appeal charity etc., and it is a law of the church for laity to support the church financially and through time and talent. However the mandatory aspect is resisted because it originated in the Reformation in Protestant countries where the civil authority established the Church and forced all, even Catholics and non-conformists, to contribute through the government’s taxing authority (England is the perfect example). This is the provision that was specifically protected against in the bill of rights, by the way.

 

[Augustine]

AFAIK, nobody’s ever checked your installment book before giving Communion.

Try skipping installments at a Protestant church!

 

[Augustine]

AlanFromWichita:

Oh, in direct response to your question, our diocese/parish does NOT require a 10% tithe. It recommends an 8% tithe to the Church and 2% charity elsewhere…

The 10% rule belongs to the Mosaic Law and it was abolished long ago.

Our pastor said in a Confirmation class that 10% is good goal, but whatever one’s comfortable with and considers one’s fair share is appreciated. He also did say that not all of had to be given to the parish, 50% being of one’s total donations a sensible guideline.

How I’d rather give 20% of my income to charities instead of having it extorted by the government!

 

[AlanFromWichita]

puzzleannie:

However the mandatory aspect is resisted because

Dear puzzleannie,

Thank you for that information, which I’ve never really heard in this context.

Another reason I can think of to avoid the mandatory aspect, is that it making it mandatory takes away the stewardship rewards. If we just do what we are made to do, don’t even atheists do that?

Augustine, I don’t know about Protestant Churches so I’ll take your word on it. They don’t actually refuse communion here, just entrance into the school for the children. It isn’t just money, either; it’s if you don’t go to Sunday Mass regularly and other reasons. This has caused differences of opinions with people who think if they aren’t being nurtured at home, all the more reason to have them in school so they at least get to two weekday Masses.

I hear you about giving it to charities instead of the government. On a semi-side note, soon I’m thinking about starting a thread on poverty, such as in spirit of poverty (poor in spirit?) or vow of poverty. I think that is closely tied to being a cheerful giver.

Alan