MINNESOTA
Canonical Consultation
01/10/2015
Jennifer Haselberger
I was surprised, and honored, to receive an email yesterday morning from a former professor of mine who says that she reads this blog and hopes that I will address the question of donations to parishes in the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis. Specifically, she wrote:
‘I am troubled regarding contributions to my local parish. Because of the percentage that is automatically taken by the archdiocese, I don’t feel comfortable contributing, though I am sad not to be able to support my local parish.
Reputable nonprofits with which I am familiar will allow you to stipulate restrictions on your donations. For example, the ALS ice-bucket challenge allowed you to stipulate that your donation was not to be used to support the embryonic stem cell research that the ALS Association funds. Why are we not allowed to restrict our contributions to our local parishes?’
The short answer is, you are. Canon law is very clear that donations given for a specific purpose may only be used for that purpose:
Canon 1267, 3- Offerings given by the faithful for a specified purpose may be used only for that purpose.
However, if you make this offering by means of the weekly collection plate or collection envelopes, the parish will have to count that donation when figuring the amount it must pay to the Archdiocese, per the assessment formula (see the Clergy Bulletin posted below). Your dollars may not be used to pay the assessment per se, but since your contribution will be tabulated along with other monies received, the effect will be the same.
But, there is nothing that says that you must contribute in this way. Instead, it is possible to send cash or a check to the parish office with a letter noting that your contribution is to be used exclusively for a particular ministry or purpose, and not towards the parish assessment or any other tax levied by the Archdiocese. Or, you can contribute to specific fundraising efforts, noting that a lesser tax (2%) is applied to contributions to building projects or debt reduction funds.
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