Renaming the 'poor box'

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reagent6 said:
Hello my brothers and sisters
I have recently taken on responsibility for posting bulletin announcements for a parish organization that helps needy families in our community. A significant amount of our budget comes from donations to the poor boxes at the doors of the church. It has been suggested that the term ‘poor box’ may be offensive to some people. In addition many of our group’s activities funded by the poor boxes are intended to keep families out of poverty in the first place.

In the bulletin announcements I most often refer to ‘needy’ families and individuals. However the term ‘poor box’ is so steeped in tradition that I use it when asking for donations- i.e."please consider making a donation in the poor box in order to help needy families. "

I am wondering if others here have encountered similar issues and if so how have they been handled? Have you had push-back on the term ‘poor box’ or have you encountered resistance when you tried to rename it? What other name for it did you use?

Personally I am content with keeping the name ‘poor box’ but not if the term is offensive to others.
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We use “Economically Disadvantaged”
 
Tell whoever is offended that you are helping the environment by reducing the amount of words it would take to describe the box from this…’ he box where money is put to help the poor’…to this…‘the poor box’.
 
I only hear the term “poor box” in court reports here in Ireland. Sometimes the Judge, not wanting the offender to have a criminal record eg a publican open after hours, will order him to pay a sum to the poor box. No idea who benefits from the money
 
I might be biased as I like internet marketing as a hobby/passion, but I still believe it should be done. I am not saying people should be forced to, but like telling me to join, and you will receive a free gift, or a prayer for the, or for their loved ones.

Also, the e-mails do not need to be spammy, like once a month is enough, plus by law, there has to be an unsubscribe option anyway which they will be able to do anytime.

It can also be an indirect way, like an electronic guestbook, where they send a photo of the church by e-mail.

On Google I did a quick search and found the following:
searchengineacademy.com/blog/creating-an-internet-marketing-plan-for-a-church/
Or else another option, every priest should post a recording of their mass online as a podcast, or post their homily in a blog. There is incredible potential in my opinion. This will complement existing evangelical things.
DebChris said:
I like that the Church has always remained a place where people from all places of the world can come and go as they please.
Some churches, especially in tourist destinations do have Guest books in the back for sign in. I am happy that the Catholic Church has not resorted to using the mailing lists to send junk mail or Spam through e-mail to solicit donations.
Yes, there are some Catholic charitable organizations that do this. The Catholic Church is first and foremost a place of worship. I would not want its mission distracted.
Many parishes do have websites. Do you accept the parish bulletin from the parish that you are visiting after attending Mass? If the parish has a website, it should be listed in the parish bulletin enabling you to learn more about the church and contribute freely as you choose. Sometimes they will leave leftover bulletins at the back of the church if you visit during the week.
It is great that the Catholic Church encourages freewill giving over soliciting our gifts.
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I have to politely diasagree, the mission of the Church is to evangelise and spread the word of God in various ways, and not only to worship.

Worship gives you the power to have inner strength to evangelise.

Luke 10, explains the exact mission of every Catholic. Now doing the right thing is also evangelising.

The Lord now chose seventy-two[a] other disciples and sent them ahead in pairs to all the towns and places he planned to visit. 2 These were his instructions to them: “The harvest is great, but the workers are few. So pray to the Lord who is in charge of the harvest; ask him to send more workers into his fields.

…
16 Then he said to the disciples, “Anyone who accepts your message is also accepting me. And anyone who rejects you is rejecting me. And anyone who rejects me is rejecting God, who sent me.”
…
DebChris said:
I like that the Church has always remained a place where people from all places of the world can come and go as they please.
Some churches, especially in tourist destinations do have Guest books in the back for sign in. I am happy that the Catholic Church has not resorted to using the mailing lists to send junk mail or Spam through e-mail to solicit donations.
Yes, there are some Catholic charitable organizations that do this. The Catholic Church is first and foremost a place of worship. I would not want its mission distracted.
Many parishes do have websites. Do you accept the parish bulletin from the parish that you are visiting after attending Mass? If the parish has a website, it should be listed in the parish bulletin enabling you to learn more about the church and contribute freely as you choose. Sometimes they will leave leftover bulletins at the back of the church if you visit during the week.
It is great that the Catholic Church encourages freewill giving over soliciting our gifts.
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infonote said:
I am not involved in any of these things, but one thing that surprises me, is that people regularly go to mass, tourists visit churches yet, the church does not do the simplest thing, building an e-mail list, which you can then send to the members.
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I work in a parish. Emailing a large list is not as easy as it sounds. If a particular email address is seen to send out a lot of emails to large groups it is quickly categorized as spam and the emails never make it to the desired recipients. We subscribe to a service that helps with this but it is not as easy as you putting your name and email address on a piece of paper in the back of church.
 
I wonder if changing the name might gradually cause people to be comfortable using the funds towards other purposes. Imagine if you called it the “Dream Box” and eventually your successor thought “well I’ve always dreamed of having a beautiful garden outside the Church” and, of course, a beautiful garden outside the Church is a good thing, so why not? If you stick with “Poor Box” it’s clear to everybody involved exactly what the money is for.
 
The poor box label may be of help those for whom English is not a first language. It might be also be easier to explain to our young children that we give money to help the poor, than it might be to explain to them that we are sharing with the economically disadvantaged or the fiscally challenged.
Poor boxes can both help the poor and also help to catechize; the language is biblical:

Matthew 26:11Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition (DRA)

11 For the poor you have always with you: but me you have not always.
 
infonote said:
I am not involved in any of these things, but one thing that surprises me, is that people regularly go to mass, tourists visit churches yet, the church does not do the simplest thing, building an e-mail list, which you can then send to the members.

Make entrance free, and make people sign. Then you can promote further events in the community to help your needs. People are more likely to give this way.

With the mailing list, you can also build your other social networks Facebook, Twitter etc, ask for donations.

When I travel, I always visit the Churches in the area, yet I cannot sign to receive information on the church etc.

I believe this should be done worldwide.
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Our parish has an email list, but it’s for registered parishioners, not just visitors.

Lots of information is in the bulletin for visitors, including website information and links to online giving, etc. Also lots of brochures with information about various ministries and parish and diocesan efforts. Our website is actually very well done. I would agree that for many parishes that is an area that is lacking.

We do use poor boxes, but they are labelled “St. Vincent de Paul Society.” So I suppose an explanation would have to be given for what those boxes are for, for those who don’t know.
 
I dread the day when the PC people try to come out with a PC Bible.

The OP may be younger, and perhaps for that reason does not understand the cancer of the PC movement. This “movement” has more than one facet. There is the “in your face” aspect of it, and then there is the long term, slow moving, systemic “creeping” aspect that many fall victim to without even realizing it. The PC movement is so pervasive, and has spread so thoroughly, even those who are openly against it, may slowly be changing without even knowing it.

On to the thread. The poor should be helped. They should also be provided the means to help themselves where possible. Christ our King speaks often about the poor. I think to rename these people something else, is to make OURSELVES feel better about THEIR plight. Calling someone who lives in a tent, or cannot keep the utilities turned on, etc, something “nice” will NOT make them feel better. It will make SOCIETY feel better!
 
The only people offended by the term “poor box” are those who insist on being politically correct. And the poor box is not about politics, it is about helping the poor.

It is long past time for the “politically correct” to be told to take a long walk on a short pier in reference to their “sensibility”. The poor are not offended. Nor is their dignity lessened by the term. The only people upset about it are the liberals, who seem to have an aversion to reality.

Time for a reality check, Changing language does not change reality; it just creates a perception that somehow the brutal reality has been wrapped up in a warm, fuzzy, nice smelling cotton blanket and is no longer brutal, and maybe not even reality.

The fuzziness is not in the blanket; it is in the thinking.
 
Our committee is called “Parish Outreach” and thats what the box says.
 
Haven’t seen a poor box in years. Maybe the candles took it’s place?
 
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