Mandatory weekly offerings for families with children in Faith Formation (CCD)?

[MamaMax]

My parish is currently in a financial crisis. We are falling way behind in our weekly expenses vs. weekly collections.

Last week, our pastor made a presentation, where he broke down the collections to show us all what the average offerings are (no names - just “20 families give between $15 and $20 per week”, etc.)

He then offered a fact which I found shocking - only about 25% of families with children in Faith formation (CCD, Religious Ed., whatever you may call it) contribute regularly, by envelope.

Now, You have to be registered with the parish to enroll a child, so we know that 100% of these families receive envelopes to use, so 75% are deliberately refusing to use them. Which indicates to me that they do not want anyone to know how much they contribute (if they contribute at all).

A friend of mine suggested that there should be a “minimum” for families with children in the FF program - for example $10 per week, or $520.00 per year. I know that the families pay $50 per year for the program to cover books and materials. Our parish is in a fairly affluent area on the East Coast - the median home price is probably about $400-$500K.

My question is - have you ever heard of a parish with minimum weekly contributions like what my friend suggested? I see the potential for a lot of bad feelings stemming from the practice, but I also feel it’s unfair for the rest of us to bear the burden for everyone.

Thanks for your (name removed by moderator)ut.

God Bless!

 

[kage_ar]

My parish is currently in a financial crisis. We are falling way behind in our weekly expenses vs. weekly collections.

A friend of mine suggested that there should be a “minimum” for families with children in the FF program - for example $10 per week, or $520.00 per year. I know that the families pay $50 per year for the program to cover books and materials. Our parish is in a fairly affluent area on the East Coast - the median home price is probably about $400-$500K.

Your Pastor, in sharing the situation and will likely begin to focus on stewardship. Prayers that opens the hearts of the Parish.

In many of those affulent areas, people are struggling to keep up with those big mortgates and fancy cars.

You might want to suggest your Parish bring in Veritas Financial Ministries to help Parishioners.

My question is - have you ever heard of a parish with minimum weekly contributions like what my friend suggested? I see the potential for a lot of bad feelings stemming from the practice, but I also feel it’s unfair for the rest of us to bear the burden for everyone.

Without digging around, I’d imagine this kind of manditory charge for CCD would violate Canon Law or some other regulation.

 

[PeteVZ]

My son goes to Catholic school and our parish requires a minimum weekly contribution in order to receive a parishoner subsidy off tuition. If you don’t meet the minimum, you are simply required to pay the full cost of educating the child. Since the minimum weekly contribution is still less than the subsidy and you get a tax write-off for the contribution, it’s smart to at least meet the minimum. Perhaps your church could raise the cost of CCD, but then offer a subsidy to those parishoners meeting the minimum.

 

[SuscipeMeDomine]

My son goes to Catholic school and our parish requires a minimum weekly contribution in order to receive a parishoner subsidy off tuition. If you don’t meet the minimum, you are simply required to pay the full cost of educating the child. Since the minimum weekly contribution is still less than the subsidy and you get a tax write-off for the contribution, it’s smart to at least meet the minimum. Perhaps your church could raise the cost of CCD, but then offer a subsidy to those parishoners meeting the minimum.

I understand the need to raise money to support the parish, but I question the idea of paying a minimum amount for the parish’s religious education program.

One of the most basic things a parish can do is teach its children about the faith. If we don’t do that, what will happen in the future? Sure, we could say it’s the parents’ responsibility and leave it at that, but do you think that would be an effective way of bringing children up in the faith? What happens to these children who receive little or not education about the faith? Do you think they’re going to grow up to be strong, faithful Catholics?

I think that faith formation for both adults and children is vital and is one place that our parish resources should be going.

 

[scott122]

Parishes are in a dilemma here, one the one hand the desire to educate the youth of our parishes in the faith, and on the other hand the need to pay their bills. There is no simple or easy answer, but those families than can afford to support the parish must be shown the need to do so, and to do so generously.

The problem is those other families - the ones just getting by - who can’t afford to give more. I firmly believe that everyone should give something, even if it’s only a dollar (or less, even!). Perhaps the parish could set up a ‘scholarship program’ for those families that can’t afford more to be subsidized by those families that are willing to give way more than the average amount - their surplus would go to offset the limited contributions of those families who are truly strapped. The problem, of course, is determining those who are truly in need vs. those who spend way too much on eating out, sports equipment, lawn maintenance and new cars.

But the bottom line is the parish must pay its expenses, for heat, light, telephone, etc and for religious education materials. Nothing is free.

 

[Phemie]

A friend of mine suggested that there should be a “minimum” for families with children in the FF program - for example $10 per week, or $520.00 per year. I know that the families pay $50 per year for the program to cover books and materials. Our parish is in a fairly affluent area on the East Coast - the median home price is probably about $400-$500K.

My question is - have you ever heard of a parish with minimum weekly contributions like what my friend suggested? I see the potential for a lot of bad feelings stemming from the practice, but I also feel it’s unfair for the rest of us to bear the burden for everyone.

Thanks for your (name removed by moderator)ut.

God Bless!

My initial reaction is that if you are already charging for the material it’s hard to justify making parents donate a minimum amount to have the Church teach their child about the faith – particularly if there are no great additional expenses incurred to provide this formation. It’s imposing on parents expenses that belong to everybody in the parish.

 

[SuscipeMeDomine]

But the bottom line is the parish must pay its expenses, for heat, light, telephone, etc and for religious education materials. Nothing is free.

No, nothing is free. But to me this is an area where the whole parish needs to pay the expenses because the whole parish has a responsibility to educate the next generation. Catholics in general are not terribly generous when it comes to supporting the parish.

One night in RCIA someone asked if Catholics tithed and are we really supposed to give 10% of our incomes. The pastor was there and said that if people gave 1% he’d be overwhelmed with how big the collections would be.