So wouldn't be charging for the sacraments be the first clue to people?

Hey, I live in a city where getting married in a Catholic church can cost almost as much as the reception afterwards. It's a scandal, really - reading through the 'weddings' insert in the diocesan newspaper and realizing that uncatechized Catholics are getting the impression that unless they have a thousand or two for the 'facilities fee', a few hundred in 'free will donation to minister' another few hundred for the musician/organist, another hundred for servers, and another few hundred for flowers, they can't have a Catholic wedding.

My cousins were just baptized and we had to cough up a free-will donation to the priest as well.

$120 is probably a bargain in some spots. I know out in the suburbs here it would be.

I threw a fit too. I was like I could see if it was a private ceremony on a weekday or something but when it is during the Mass or for 15 minutes after the Mass...I was like come on...

When Wedding flowers cost thousands, wedding cake thousand, wedding dress thousands, wedding reception thousands, honeymoon thousands why are we crying when we have to give the Church a few hundred.

At my parish in Dallas, it's 1000 to celebrate a nuptial mass, a 250 mandatory donation to priest, and then 75 to coordinator.

It makes sense to have a fee- they are using the utilities, providing bread/wine, candles, etc.

It makes sense to pay the coordinator; she opens, closes, and makes sure we don't make a mess.

It makes sense to give a gratuity to the priest; but I don't like it being mandated. Esp. at such a high cost.

Perhaps this is not bad for people getting married later in life, but being in college and affording all this? It's tough. It's more than a cake-and-punch reception will cost. Perhaps I'm totally in left field, but I feel that I'm being taken for as much money as they can get out of me /sigh.

My parish does not charge parishioners a facilities fee.

My fiancé and I are being charged $250 for the music minister's services, which would include a cantor except that we're providing our own.

The parish asks that we make a donation after the wedding. There are no parameters given for how much we should give. (We are still deciding.)

They are providing lights, heat (for a January wedding), Hosts and wine for the Eucharist, and a volunteer couple who will run the rehearsal and whatnot. Plus there are their regular costs of clearing snow/salting, etc.

However, ours is a relatively well-off parish. I know that the Cathedral charges over $1,000 for various costs associated with getting married there. But the Cathedral is part of a cluster of parishes in the inner city that are not that fiscally strong. They can't afford to subsidize the lights, heat/air conditioning, music minister, etc. (And re: the heating and cooling, this is a giant Gothic cathedral with huge high ceilings and crappy insulation. The bills are way higher than you'd think.)

I could be wrong, but I would guess that if a young couple in college who were parishioners at the Cathedral, who were obviously on a shoestring and were just having a little cake-and-punch reception after, etc, wanted to get married here, there could be some accommodations made about the fees. But that's not what the lion's share of weddings at the Cathedral are. Most of them are big, expensive affairs that do prompt questions like Sharon's. And the one couple I knew who were considering getting married at the Cathedral decided to skip it and do a destination wedding when they found out the Archbishop wasn't going to celebrate their wedding Mass.

And then consider the fact that most Catholics do not give to the parish or to diocesan efforts, and those who do almost all do so well under 10% of income. (I'm guilty of that too, though it is with permission of my confessor.) If we were all tithing 10% or more like a lot of Evangelicals do, then maybe churches wouldn't have to charge for weddings and Catholic school tuition could go way down. I know times are tough, but it's been going on for a long time.

Bottom line: I would be circumspect about criticizing parishes for charging for weddings, at least without doing a lot of research and talking to the pastor about it. There are probably very good reasons for it.

The original article isn't talking about weddings though. I would think that would be different from Baptism and Confirmation.
There is also a facilities/free-will donation for funerals in my area as well.

This guy is a Thuc-line sedevacantist.

So, obviously, he needs the money.

Uh, what do you call more than $1000 for a wedding?

When my husband and I got married, there was a $25 fee for the church (b/c someone had to come in, unlock it, clean up after, etc.) and a $50 fee for the organist (included wedding and rehearsal and whatever time she put in on her own.

We made a donation to the church (our parish anyway) and then, we gave a gift to the priest. Who turned around and gave it to the church. =)

I've never heard of "paying" for a baptism, though!!!!! Presumably you're a regular parishioner who tithes... wouldn't that be like paying for communion?????

Now, it IS good form to invite the priest to the post-baptism reception and make sure he eats well! =)