From the Pastor’s Desk
Whenever a pastor talks about money,
the parishioners usually comment that the “pastor
needs more money to pay the bills”. This is a
reflection of a former way of life in our church
when the pastor ‘owned the parish’ and the
offertory collection and all the parish bills were
his personally.
When a request to increase the offertory
is made, the proper response is: “the parish needs
more money to pay its bills” and the pastor is the
one reminding us of this situation.
Several years ago and in a different
parish an elderly parishioner appeared at the
rectory door and asked to speak to me. I showed
him into the office, closed the door and sat at my
desk. The gentleman took a Dunkin Donut bag
out from under his arm and put in on my desk and
sat down. He then said: “This is for you,
father.”
I don’t usually eat donuts for breakfast,
or any other time of day, but I did not want to
offend this wonderful and faithful parishioner so
I opened the bag. There was dough in there but
not the kind you make donuts with I saw a
stack of crisp $100 bills. I took out the stack to
find another and another until I had five packets
of newly minted $100 bills on my desk totaling
$25,000. All this from a Dunkin Donut bag that
he carried, without care, under his arm.
I looked at the stack of bills and I kept
thinking: “He did say this is for you, father.”
No one had ever been so generous to me
personally. But, in the deep recesses of my
conscience, I knew I had to ask the question:
“What do you mean this is for you, father?” And,
unfortunately, he responded as I had anticipated:
“Well, for the church, father, for the
renovations.” Ah! This is for you, father, did
not mean this is for YOU, father, it means this is
for the church.
On many occasions the same scenario
plays out. After a baptism someone hands me an
envelope and says: “This is for you father,” but
the enclosed check is made out to the parish. This
association of the pastor and the parishes’ money
as one is an attitude that goes back many decades.
Well into the mid 1950’s the method of
compensation for the parish priests was vastly
different than it is today. In those days when a
priest was appointed ‘pastor’ the parish
became his ‘benefice’ and he literally ‘owned’
the parish. In practical terms this meant that the
pastor was responsible personally for the
maintenance of the parish buildings and the
diocesan mandated salary for his associates. The
offertory collection was his personally because
all the parish bills were also his personally.
All priests have heard the horror stories
of pastors putting their associates out of the
rectory on their days off even if they were ill
because if they stayed he would have to feed them
and this came out of his own pocket. Till the
early part of the last century the goal of a priest
was to get to a large parish where there were
many Mass stipends and a good offertory for this
is what he had to live on. We must also mention
that in those days the diocese did not provide
either a pension or medical insurance for its
priests. If a priest got sick he had to take care of
his own medical expenses and if he retired he was
on his own. The goal of a large parish was also
necessary because the Christmas collection was
simply a gift to the pastor.
Fortunately, things have changed
drastically since those days. Today all priests
are salaried and the diocese provides medical
insurance and a pension which is available at
the age of 75. In order to provide sufficient funds
for the parishes of the diocese to pay the salaries
and the monthly insurance and retirement
premiums, the All Souls envelope donations and
the Christmas collection now are parish revenue
and not personal property.
At times, but fortunately very
infrequently, a parishioner will get upset with
something that has happened in the parish and say
that he/she is no longer “giving that priest my
money”. This does not affect your parish priests.
The salary of your priest is not subject to the
amount of the offertory collection it is set by the
diocese. A huge offertory does not increase the
pastor’s salary it just makes it easier to pay the
parish bills and to maintain the parish campus.
The new mantra is: “This is for the
parish, father.” It just doesn’t have the same
ring.
~ Father Roland ~