Fee for Baptism?

[Not David]

I found on Twitter that there is a parish that charges money for sacraments such as Baptism or Weddings. Is that appropriate?

 

[Benjamin Müller]

I'm grappling to understand why any parish would do this and cannot think of any reasonable excuse seeing that churches are tax-exempt, so it's not like they have to worry about that. The only thing I could see as being reasonable is charging non-Parish members for wedding services, but baptism?! Especially baptism for Parish members! Regardless of being a member of the church or not, baptism should never cost a penny.

Fine example of people trying to make money off of the Holy Spirit. Don't they know that no Canaanite will inherit the Kingdom of God? A Canaanite, being a merchant--one who makes money off of God. (Zechariah 14:21)

Back in my old church baptisms and weddings for members was always free; that was the service of the minister.

 

[All4Christ]

I consider this to be very wrong. It’s a sacrament, not something to be bought or to be sold.

I found on Twitter that there is a parish that charges money for sacraments such as Baptism or Weddings. Is that appropriate?
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[prodromos]

If the Church is not their parish, and people wish to be baptised/married there because of its beauty or prestige, then I think it is reasonable to charge a fee, but not if it is their own parish. They might as well charge for any of the sacraments.

 

[ArmyMatt]

I found on Twitter that there is a parish that charges money for sacraments such as Baptism or Weddings. Is that appropriate?
View attachment 315563

if that’s for an Orthodox baptism, that’s wrong.

 

[SamanthaAnastasia]

I’ve seen it online for “charging” but it’s not a fee so much as asking to purchase the supplies needed. So idk

 

[rusmeister]

There is a concept, in Russian it is called "treb", in English translated as "need", I believe. It is the idea that for specific, and especially non-vital things, like the blessings of cars, homes, etc, for individuals put additional burden on parish priests, in the East often far outnumbered by the number of parishioners, and may also incur other minor expenses and trouble. The purpose of the "treb", as I understand it, is a little bit like a gym membership fee - to encourage those who can to contribute to the parish. It is NOT supposed to be a business transaction, and people who really can't won't be expected to pay for whatever the service is. But of course, the idea can be, and I'm sure has been, abused. This looks like extreme abuse. The sums are supposed to be well within the ability of ordinary people to contribute, the equivalent of a few dollars, typically. I can imagine larger sums in America- $10-20, for example. A priest also has to put gas in his car, at the very least, to say nothing of his time. But again, the dynamics are different in America, and the typical parish there, as I understand, has much smaller numbers of people, the cost of everything is different. But in all events, it should NEVER be treated as a required payment or obligation of business transaction. It is supposed to be that those who can contribute, those who can't, don't. No one has any "right" to anything, everything in the Church is a gift. But it is obviously easy to drift away from that attitude, making it problematic.

 

[All4Christ]

I’ve seen it online for “charging” but it’s not a fee so much as asking to purchase the supplies needed. So idk

I still disagree, especially with a cost this high. Supplies for baptism are minimal - water, oil, candle, time and usage of the building. The parish can cover that much. At times, a sponsor even provides some of that already. If someone wants to give a gift, then they can do so of their own free will. Many do that after a wedding - for example, with the priest, choir director or chanter, and if it is not their own parish, a donation to the parish for providing their facilities. It is a free will gift though, and is not required or expected and certainly is not a set amount.

I also strongly disagree with a set number of dollars per month to be a member of a parish. Proper tithing and free will gifts should take care of expenses and prevent it from being a business transaction. Money never should be a barrier to be part of the Church.

 

[Justin-H.S.]

Simony vibes

 

[gurneyhalleck1]

That's nuts. I've never heard of such a thing. Sounds like a major exception in our Faith and not the rule.

 

[nutroll]

I don't want to defend the practice, but maybe provide a little context. Especially with some of the ethnic churches in the US, it was often difficult to get people to donate regularly to the parish in order to cover the expenses needed to keep the parish open and operational. Many people were used to a system in which some or all of those expenses were covered by the government in the old country and so they saw little reason to give directly to the church. They pay their taxes after all. But they didn't (and don't) always understand that in the US the church does not receive any payments from the government. And so some parishes turned to things like dues or charges for certain services as a way of making sure that expenses were paid. This has led to unfortunate occurences on occasion (like people being denied a church funeral because they had not paid their dues in years which essentially meant they were no longer members).

Our parish has a website page with recommended donations for certain services because people will often ask what they should give as a gift and it provides them with an idea. It clearly states, however that these things are provided without charge and that everyone can have these things done regardless of whether they are willing to give a gift in return.

I think the far better practice is to teach people to be generous and giving by the Church itself stressing generosity and giving. I think the side effect of the system that charges for things is that it reinforces the idea that you don't have to give. If you just plopped down $500 to get your kid baptized, why would you also put money in the basket?

We have those who are well-off who are loathe to part with their money and those who are generous with what God has given them; we have the poor who put in their last two mites and those who hold on to what little they have for fear that they will not have enough, and we have everything in between the extremes in our parish. But when we show by example that money is not what is important, it seems we always have enough for the running of the parish.

 

[SamanthaAnastasia]

I still disagree, especially with a cost this high. Supplies for baptism are minimal - water, oil, candle, time and usage of the building. The parish can cover that much. At times, a sponsor even provides some of that already. If someone wants to give a gift, then they can do so of their own free will. Many do that after a wedding - for example, with the priest, choir director or chanter, and if it is not their own parish, a donation to the parish for providing their facilities. It is a free will gift though, and is not required or expected and certainly is not a set amount.

I also strongly disagree with a set number of dollars per month to be a member of a parish. Proper tithing and free will gifts should take care of expenses and prevent it from being a business transaction. Money never should be a barrier to be part of the Church.

Yeah I was confused when I saw it…