Weekly Donations

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Then the needed donations are somewhere between paying for bread and water for sacraments and paying for a million dollar AC system. Unless you want to do without buildings and basic utilities.
 
Buildings without basic utilities? You mean like the vast majority of Churches for the vast majority of history in the vast majority of places?
 
Yes I anticipated somebody bringing that up. My Parish has plenty of both. One day during the announcements the financial secretary came out at the request of the priest and said if the donations weren’t increased the Parish might eventually have to close.
 
You mean there are no buldings? Even without utilities there are maintenance costs.
 
According to the short Bible book called Malachi, God Himself reveals not giving tithe is “robbing Me”.

Contributing to the financial needs of the Church is one of the Precepts.

Based on those, it makes sense it’d be a mortal sin, but I’ve never heard of it referred like that before now.
 
From the Catechism of St. Pius X:
4 Q. Is it a sin to transgress a Precept of the Church?
A. Knowingly to transgress a Precept of the Church in grave matter is a mortal sin.
…
6 Q. Name the Precepts of the Church.
A…4. To contribute to the support of the Church, according to local custom…
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That being said, there is no defined rule as to how we do this or how much. Examine your means and your conscience and act accordingly.
 
IdaCatholic said:
I think this is false. The Church when at it most poor, it’s most persecuted is when it was the strongest. Somehow this contradiction to the way of the world is the essence of God. It is echoed in the King who was born in a stable, and died on a Cross. It is echoed in the missionary priests to the new world, and the saints of the poor. Our lady’s apparitions that converted millions. How rich was the Church in it’s first 300 years? And that is arguably it’s most prolific.
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People in those times gave proportionally more of their goods in support of the Church. At the beginning, many gave it all–in fact, in Acts, the Holy Spirit struck some down because they held back!
 
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JimTobin said:
The lavish lifestyle of priests
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Yes, I witnessed first hand our priest’s lavish lifestyle this morning as he had must have the funds to hire that mechanic looking at the engine of his 20 something year old car… although, it probably was a parishioner volunteering to help him out.
 
JimTobin said:
I must not have made my question specific. I am questioning the giving of money to the Church so that then can pay off their sins of immorality. I am not questioning the giving of time or providing services in the Church. The Church has tooooo long resisted lay oversite in the finances of the Church. I have witnessed many inappropriate use of funds. The lavish lifestyle of priests and Bishops is appalling. All the while schools are closing. I drive by my Catholic Elementary School and tear up at the rem-shackled abandoned building it is now. I tire of hearing about the abuse nuns metted out to their charges. I attended eight years of Catholic school and found out by experience the significant difference in the education of Catholic versus Public Schools.
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If the KoC flyer is indeed being published and distributed on behalf the bishop, could it be because there is a boycott of special (arch)diocesan collections?

I understand the skepticism that one’s money may be going to questionable things. However, if you trust your parish leadership, there is plenty of opportunity to give there in lieu of the special diocesan collections that you may be skeptical of. Or, if you know of a reputable Catholic school or parish that may be in danger of closing, donate to keep it open. Or other Catholic charitable concerns (such as a homeless shelter or soup kitchen, for example). That’s basically the approach I take.
 
MikeInVA said:
No, they’re shutting down due to lack of parishioners and priests.
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Those two quotes are interrelated. If people would come back to Church (and if people would stop contracepting), there would be more people donating, and more of a pool for vocations to spring from.
 
Frankie65 said:
I think these days some of us are concerned about where the money’s going
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Where is that? Seriously…what immoral use are you afraid the Church is going to spend money on?
Do you pay your taxes? Why are you more worried about how the Church might misspend your contribution, so much so that you’d break a precept of the Church in order to deny it?
MikeInVA said:
No, they’re shutting down due to lack of parishioners and priests.
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Our Archbishop is perenially scrambling for the money to educate our seminarians and to support our retired priests.
 
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The pastor at a parish I belonged to said years ago that tithing 10% was a worthy goal, but he didn’t want any more than 5% going to our parish from our parishioners. He thought the faithful ought to be directing the rest of anything they had to contribute to the other works of the larger Church, not making their suburban parish a bit more comfortable.
 
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I have a relative who attends a parish at which he believes the new pastor has been profligate with parish funds, so he doesn’t contribute to the general fund there any more. The pastor reminded him that it is a precept of the Church to support the Church. His reply was essentially: “Yes, well, I support the Church. I just can’t see my way to support the way you’ve been spending money that the parishioners have given to yours.” He only gives money to the parish by giving it to the business manager with a specific earmark on it. He doesn’t give less to the Church than he ever did.
 
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PetraG said:
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Frankie65:
I think these days some of us are concerned about where the money’s going
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Where is that? Seriously…what immoral use are you afraid the Church is going to spend money on?
Do you pay your taxes? Why are you more worried about how the Church might misspend your contribution, so much so that you’d break a precept of the Church in order to deny it?
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Seriously? You don’t understand how people could think the Church could misspend money? Are you aware of the Vatican bank scandal? The other scandals involving money being misspent in the Church?

Ok, what if your parish had a priest who used money for his lovers? What if he used diocesan money to purchase a plane ticket to try to harm and abuse a child? What if the money you donated, paid for the and the computer he lured the kids on? What if then, the diocese took your good faith donations, and used them for the legal defense of that man?

Impossible you say?

I wish.
 
Agreed. The hope of salvation that I have is in large part due to the priests and parishioners I’ve met and spoken with during my journey. There are many others like me. I happily support the finances of my parish and charities that help the poor and others in need. What they gave me is priceless.
 
I don’t worry about every penny. Just my penny.

I have no problem with you fulfilling your obligation. I cannot morally do what you do.

As an aside, Ray Arroyo or Al Cresta, was talking about the scandals when Pennsylvania broke. And He pointed out that maybe one of the only ways we will ever be able to bring the problems to light and eradicate them is to have an independent opening of the books of the Church. His point was if you find the monetary misuse, you will find the abuse and the cover ups. When the Church denied this to places under investigation, that really spoke to me.
 
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