James, I have no problem at all with individuals giving to the church to further His work on this earth.I…
I am a cradle Catholic and I do not know a single Catholic who has ever paid to have
private masses said for their deceased family member for 30 days.
In the middle ages it was common for a wealthy land owner or Nobles to sponsor an ordained priest/monk etc. to live on their estate to teach their children the faith as much as it was a to teach them how to read and write since the more educated and intellectual class were the clergy - who were often fluent in Latin/arts etc. These were given a free room and board like a hired servant and a stipend for small amount of personal effects - some might even have been given horses for transportation etc. as part of the deal. But most of these priests and especially the monks were very austere – often donating what surplus they had to the poor. Many noblemen shared their clergy with the local peasants to give mass and spiritual advise and give absolution. Was this “purchasing” one’s way into heaven? NO - it was a mutually beneficial means by which the church was integral with the community. Might some wealthy nobles who had paid servants assign tasks to pray for their family members before God’s altar when they were not attending to other affairs? Most assuredly - and no doubt this was resented by some peasants who were themselves too busy working the fields of the nobles and who were spiteful that these men could afford to gain prayers through paid servants. Was this unfair or evil?
As for saying novenas (9 days) and 30 day’s of continuous prayers and masses for fee - yes this goes on even today. Most just sign up with religious orders for a perpetual daily masses. Do you know what the fee is? It is typically an outrageous donation of $25 or $100 for life time masses.
Here is a religious order that does this (
Mass Cards from Society of the Little Flower - Carmelites (St. Therese of Lisieux)) They send out a high-quality mass-card as a remembrance to the deceased survivors as a comforting keepsake to remind them of the masses. The small fee offsets the costs of running the religious order - who give up everything in life to serve God’s people & help the poor. Is that abuse and holding someone back from heaven???
Also, EVERY Catholic parish in the world offers daily masses with intentions to the deceased - the fee is a suggested donation of $5. HUGE huh? It offsets the cost of putting the person’s name in the prayer books and bulletins. Indigent are given free mass intentions - the donation waived with a smile and a blessing ( but most priests or church staff will toss in a blind donation out of their own pockets).
You Protestants are all coming from a very paranoid and suspicious tradition over the over-stated few abuses. You are spewing ancient polemics that were widely propagandized through the weapon of the Protestants using the new “printing press”. In essence you all are still stepping on these old traps set down like land-mines over 500 years ago by spiteful men who hated The Church – envious of her power and influence. The Church used to be so respected that we were quite independent of the State before your forefathers rebelled to give power to the state – only then to have to flee the state’s tyranny and start if all over again in the USA. When claiming indulgence abuse never forget that this country was founded originally by Protestants fleeing the tyranny of Protestant empowered State rulers and secular heads of the Protestants Church (e.g. the King of England). It’s pretty amazing for us Catholics to watch you all still moan about indulgences while being ignorant of actual history and while in this current historical secular context we arrive at through Protestantism. So stop parroting the old worn polemics started by men now long dead – many probably now in hell for spreading these calumnies and lies.
You also need to remember that in purgatory there is NO TIME - it is a STATE in Eternity. Indulgences lesson their suffering as we empathize with them though a spiritual charitable act. Christians are required to be charitable to our neighbors - those who die are still very much our neighbors and deserving of our charity. You need to also remember that our prayers are completely subject to God’s will. There is no way to “game the system”. God is not mocked. If God does not approve of our prayer intentions He might elect to give it to a more needful soul - perhaps a soul who has no one to pray for them. All we can be confident of is the certainty that NO PRAYER ever goes wasted. God will use our prayers and intentions to their highest and best use. There is an economy of grace and it pleases Him that we empathize ourselves with those He loves and has deemed worthy of eternal beatitude. In return we have confidence too that those who we help promote to heaven will show eternal gratitude and pray for us before God’s altar 24/7.
Try to get past the old and tired polemical view of Catholic practice and see the beauty of sharing prayers for each other here on earth and with those departed. There is nothing in the practice of indulgences that is diabolical and in fact it is a wonderful gift from God.
So to answer your question:** Does this not create a class difference based on money?**.
NO - money has nothing to do with it - it is the thoughts/intentions and the spiritual state of the person that desires to help another that matter. Any of us can pray at any moment of the day (or go to mass) for a loved one and if we are in good grace God WILL hear us and will listen and help those we pray for in some way. If they are no longer in a condition of “need” (already in heaven or in hell) then He will apply those prayers in a way we would most desire as an alternative given His perfect knowledge.
There is also a strange and perverse Protestant tradition of associating wealth with evil. This is a man-made fear & false theology. Abraham and David were given MUCH WEALTH as a blessing for being upright and pleasing to God. Wealth therefor can be a means by which God permits some to help more people - only abuses & fixations on wealth become evil. Is it unfair that some people are more holy and devoted and disciplined than others to have their prayers answered more quickly than others? Is having more grace than another “unfair” to the poor sinners who are disgraced through their own irresponsible carelessness?
Did God create a spirital “class” for favoring Catholic St. Mary over all other woman?
Luke 1:28 And the angel came in to her, and said, Hail, you that are highly favored, the Lord is with you: blessed are you among women. 
James
So, even if what you say is true of somone paying $150 dollars for 30 masses (which is ALWAYS a suggested donation and that is VERY high compared to other orders) it is CHEAP - $5/mass. 5$ per mass is the traditional donation and if somone wants to give 1 mass or 5, 0r 10, or 30 or a lifetime that is THEIR personal decision and YOU have no business trying to make others feel guilty for doing a nice thing for somone. Most Parishes never permit more than 1-2 people to be remembered per daily mass. That measly $5 does not even pay to turn the lights on in the church pal - get a sense of perspective and reality. NO ONE prescribed how many masses should be said to a person. In fact if you were really in a religious order those donations were helping to feed and cloth YOU and YOU lived on that charity and now you have the gall to bite the hand of goodwill of good Christians that fed you in those years??? That’s outrageous. Sit down and calculate what it cost The Church to put a roof over your head, give you a room to sleep in, feed you 3 times a day and you will see that you are being absolutely ridiculous in your judgements. NO ONE forced anyone to donate money for masses - it was nice gesture. Most people elect to get perpetual daily masses for the life of a person said for about $100. That is less than most people spend taking their family out for a birthday diner. Eternity is a long time bro. People are free to go to mass everyday for somone they care for and say prayers for no charge. A single rosary said in church is a full plenary if one is in a high state of grace. If somone wants to donate money that is THEIR business NOT yours. You really are clueless about what you are talking about with respect to the underlying theology as well.