Passing money in church

[debraran]

Hi, I had a question about passing money in church. After reading the passage about Jesus throwing people out of temple for using his father’s place for “business”, I wondered if money should be collected in church. A Jewish friend told me that’s why they don’t collect money in their temple, they mail it or pay yearly or at the office. Maybe if it were in the vestible or after mass? Passing money in the middle always made me feel funny, but I never thought about it much until recently.
I also heard a priest say he doesn’t like the Bingo games, but if the church needs money and the priest doesn’t want it in his rectory, there isn’t much choice about that either.
Any thoughts on this?

 

[LilyM]

The reason Jesus disliked the money changers in the temple was not because they were handling money, but rather because they were being dishonest - ‘thieves’ - in the way they went about the business.

The job itself was a necessary one - the Temple offerings were required to be paid in a unique currency used nowhere else, so ordinary currency had to be changed into temple currency. Presumably cheating or extorting the people in the process though, which was what made it wrong.

 

[Mag_Uidhir]

Any thoughts on this?

Yes, they were threw out of it because they were using the Temple like a market place, like a street corner stall.
I personally don’t agree with bingo games in the Church, what next, ballroom dancing ?

Twenty years ago our Monsignor in an effort to raise money for renovations printed some tickets and had a lottery.

It was only supposed to go on about a year, but it’s still going and it don’t profane the Church.
The draw is held in a separate place belonging to the Church, surprisingly called the upper room.

So maybe you could suggest this, the prize money isn’t enormous to corrupt, so it’s only a suggestion, it’s surprising how well it works.

debraran:

At least ballroom dancing isn’t gambling! I notice not all churches have bingo, some will do tag sales outdoors, cake sales, charity sales, etc. Sometimes the “norm” just becomes acceptable.

**
True, but at least it’s outside.**

 

[debraran]

I realize they had oxen and sheep and doves, but he mentioned “changers of money” and not to make his house a house of merchandise. Even that didn’t stand out per se, although I don’t like talk of money during the homily…save it for after the mass or before, although before, doesn’t help my mind stay on the mass so much, I’m back to thinking about bills!

I wondered if there were othe passages in the old testement, because Jews have an aversion to passing money in the temple and they didn’t believe in Jesus.

 

[quasimodo]

Hi, I had a question about passing money in church. After reading the passage about Jesus throwing people out of temple for using his father’s place for “business”, I wondered if money should be collected in church. A Jewish friend told me that’s why they don’t collect money in their temple, they mail it or pay yearly or at the office. Maybe if it were in the vestible or after mass? Passing money in the middle always made me feel funny, but I never thought about it much until recently.
I also heard a priest say he doesn’t like the Bingo games, but if the church needs money and the priest doesn’t want it in his rectory, there isn’t much choice about that either.
Any thoughts on this?

I doubt that the Jews you know don’t take collections in church is because of anything Jesus did in the temple.

We collect $$ in the middle of Mass because it is our offering to be united with the sacrifice of Jesus. In the old days, the people brought food to share with the poor as the offering. Money became the standard for all the reasons we use money today, instead of a barter system

 

[debraran]

“Yes, they were threw out of it because they were using the Temple like a market place, like a street corner stall.
I personally don’t agree with bingo games in the Church, what next, ballroom dancing ?”

At least ballroom dancing isn’t gambling! I notice not all churches have bingo, some will do tag sales outdoors, cake sales, charity sales, etc. Sometimes the “norm” just becomes acceptable.