Diocese of Covington - Messenger at 402 E. 21st Street, Covington, KY 41015 US - New guidelines on Mass stipends issued by Bishop Foys

In the Acts of the Apostles we read about a rather colorful character named Simon the Magician. Some older translations call him Simon Magus. He either saw or heard about the miraculous cures being performed by the Apostles and offered Peter money to buy the secret knowledge that enabled him to perform such wonders. Peter, of course, refused. Ever after that time, the practice of demanding money for spiritual benefits has been called “simony,” after Simon.

Peter refused Simon’s offer because Christ had said that what the apostles had been given freely, they should dispense freely. However, it was the same Christ who advised the apostles not to be bashful about accepting the food and hospitality of those to whom they were preaching because, “after all, the workman deserves his wage.”

The Church has lived with and, at times, wrestled with the tension between these two teachings of our Lord. Her solution to what may appear to some as contradictory advice is easy enough to understand. The ministers of the Church devote themselves to teaching, preaching, governing and the administration of the sacraments. In return the members of the Church are responsible to see to it that they are provided with what we commonly call a “decent living.” At different times in history that has meant different things, but in our day it certainly would include decent housing, food, access to medical care and continuing education, enough income to make it possible for them to exercise their ministry, to be generous to the needy and to the Church, and to obtain the goods and services which help them to maintain their physical and emotional health.

Contrary to popular belief, most priests take no vow of poverty. They receive an income from the Church and are in turn responsible for their own expenses. That income comes in various ways. Not every diocese provides for its clergy in the same way. In our diocese, the income of the priests and bishops has come from two sources: a monthly salary and the offerings which people freely give on the occasion of the reception of a sacrament or on requesting that prayers or a Mass be offered for a specific intention. And so it has been the custom in our diocese for people to give the priest an offering of some kind when he baptizes one of their children, officiates at a wedding or at other such times. It has also been the custom for the priest, after celebrating Mass, to receive the offering which a person has made when he or she requested that a Mass be offered for a specific intention.

The offering of a stipend is one of the ways a Church member has of giving the minister the support to which Christ said the worker in the vineyard was entitled. It is not the purchase of the grace that flows from the sacrament itself.

Most of the requests for Masses to be offered for a particular intention come from those who are praying for the repose of the soul of a friend or relative. From the time when the leaders of the Jews in Old Testament times provided money to pay for expiatory sacrifices in the Jerusalem temple to be made on behalf of the dead, sacred Scripture has called making such arrangements for the faithful departed “a worthy and pious thought.” And so it is. To pray and make sacrifices so that the time in purgatory of a departed soul might be shortened, to help the soul in his or her cooperation with the purging from sin which is a proof of God’s love and mercy, and to make up for whatever temporal punishment due to sin is demanded by divine justice is a holy, wholesome and pious thing. The publication and designation of a certain Mass as one that is being offered for a particular person reminds everyone in the parish to pray for the departed and is often the occasion for the family of the departed to gather at the designated Mass and pray together. This has been a part of Catholic practice for many centuries and it flows directly from our belief in what we call “the Communion of Saints.”

Requests for Masses to be offered at the time of a death of a loved one, however, are not the only requests a parish receives. Often people ask that a Mass be offered for a “special intention” and give no more information than that. At other times requests come into the parish for Masses to be offered for healing from physical or psychological illness, to help someone find a job or to discern a vocation.

Even though she acknowledges that the offerings which are given at such times, called “stipends,” have been part of the support to which the minister is entitled because of his labors on behalf of the Church from time out of memory, at the same time, the Church cautions its ministers never to make the giving of an offering a requirement for the reception of a sacrament. The priest or bishop will baptize children, confirm the youth and offer Mass at the request of the members of the Church whether he is offered a stipend for such service or not.

The general law of the Church recognizes that people prefer to have some guidelines for the offering of a stipend. In other words, people like to know what is usually offered when Mass for a particular intention is requested. Canon law mandates that such guidelines be published and that they should apply to a whole area and not just to a particular parish. The last time our diocese published guidelines concerning Mass intentions was after the Diocesan Synod in the 1960s, with some adjustment in the 1970s. That was when the suggested donation was set at $5.00. It has been over 30 years since any adjustment has been made. Five dollars in 1970 money would be equivalent to almost $25 in 2008 money.

Having been apprised of this situation, Bishop Roger Foys asked for the advice of his Presbyteral Council, a committee of priests which counsels him on matters having to do with the administration of the diocese and the pastoral ministry. The majority of the council members was of the opinion that even though raising the suggested offering to $25 would be nothing more than adjusting it to the rate of inflation, that was just too much of an increase all at once. They also voiced the conviction that the suggested donation should never be raised so high that it would discourage people from coming forward to request that a Mass be offered for a particular intention. At the same time, they recognized that if the stipend was part of the support to which the priest was entitled, some adjustment was necessary in justice. The Council’s recommendation was, therefore, that the suggested donation be raised from $5 to $10. Bishop Foys accepted that recommendation and decreed that the new guidelines would go into effect on the First Sunday of Advent, Nov. 30.

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