Should the church take money for its services?

[chriswilliam]

My mother died last May. When we were making the arrangments with the church we were told we had to pay $350.00 to the church to have her laid out for two hours and the mass. Then we were told by the priest that the cemetery was too far for him to go it was on the other side of town (Milwaukee), for the committal service. We had to have the funeral home worker to say the prayers. After the service I found out that he moonlighted as a Methodist minister. I guess that Ishould be glad to have some type of man of God doing the committal.

 

[Semper_Fi_1]

chriswilliam:

My mother died last May. When we were making the arrangments with the church we were told we had to pay $350.00 to the church to have her laid out for two hours and the mass. Then we were told by the priest that the cemetery was too far for him to go it was on the other side of town (Milwaukee), for the committal service. We had to have the funeral home worker to say the prayers. After the service I found out that he moonlighted as a Methodist minister. I guess that Ishould be glad to have some type of man of God doing the committal.

I am confused. Did you have your mother’s funeral at a Methodist church? When my grandmother died, the priest that did the funeral services would not even take $300 (I think it is customary to tip the priest, but a priest shouldn’t take money for those services up front) that we offered him. I don’t know if we had to pay anything to lease the parish out, but I doubt it.

 

[chriswilliam]

Semper Fi:

I am confused. Did you have your mother’s funeral at a Methodist church? When my grandmother died, the priest that did the funeral services would not even take $300 (I think it is customary to tip the priest, but a priest shouldn’t take money for those services up front) that we offered him. I don’t know if we had to pay anything to lease the parish out, but I doubt it.

My mothers funeral was at a Catholic Church. Because the priest thought the cemetery was to far to go, the funeral director who was a Methodist minister on the side said the committal service.I talked with a priest at a Polish National Church He said he does charge but only if the family can afford it. Other wise he’ll take what evers offer to him and at times he’ll do everything free. my mother knew that I was going to this church ,but Iwouldn’t have her funeral there without her ok. I talked to her about the church but she died too fast to tell me her thoughts on it.

 

[jimmy]

chriswilliam:

My mother died last May. When we were making the arrangments with the church we were told we had to pay $350.00 to the church to have her laid out for two hours and the mass. Then we were told by the priest that the cemetery was too far for him to go it was on the other side of town (Milwaukee), for the committal service. We had to have the funeral home worker to say the prayers. After the service I found out that he moonlighted as a Methodist minister. I guess that Ishould be glad to have some type of man of God doing the committal.

We are required to support the Church and its priests. Without our contribution the Church could not support the priests or have any churches or anything.

 

[Semper_Fi_1]

jimmy:

We are required to support the Church and its priests. Without our contribution the Church could not support the priests or have any churches or anything.

I agree, and there are even Scripture verses to support this as well (something along the lines of give a worthy man his due, or something like that). I do not think it’s morally acceptable for a priest to charge up-front for things such as funerals though, unless he is going to incur charges which are not customarily provided for him by the parish or the Archdiocese (i.e. if he has to travel 200 miles or something).

 

[ComradeAndrei]

Yes, the priest shouldn’t charge for any services as this smacks of simony. It is customary to give them something, as to paraphrase the Good Book, you are not to muzzle the ox that is harnessed to the grinding stone.

 

[puzzleannie]

the Church does not charge fees for Masses and sacraments, although donations are accepted, and in some places so customary that they are mistakenly called fees. Churches may charge for the use of the facilities for weddings, quinceneras and other celebrations. I have never belonged to or worked at a parish that charged a fee for use of the Church for funerals. Some parishes waive or reduce the fee for parishioners.

 

[Chris_Jacobsen]

If this occured in Milwaukee, write to Archbishop Dolan. Tell the Archbishop what happen, and ask him to get your $350.00 back for you.

 

[chriswilliam]

jimmy:

We are required to support the Church and its priests. Without our contribution the Church could not support the priests or have any churches or anything.

I agree with you to a point. All churches have to be supported by the members by sunday collections and by donations. But want if a family can’t afford a price a priest say he needs for a funeral mass and committal service. There are up front cost to funeral to open and close the grave and the vault. Does the priest say no money no mass,give me what you can afford even if its only a dollar or I understand I’ll do all the services for nothing. We all have stand back and look a priest is suppose to do Christ work on earth, DID christ take any money for dying on the cross for us.