Thou Shalt Not Nickel and Dime: New York Post

It's time to cash in on Catholic guilt.

At least that's what some parishioners think is happening at St. Luke's Church in Whitestone, Queens, where detailed breakdowns of members' weekly donations have begun appearing in the weekly bulletin.

As an long-time usher in a parish a few miles away, I am only surprised to see that it took this long for this to get some sunlight.

Catholics are cheap. That's the old news. Catholics are so cheap they contribute whatever they contributed when they were 20 years old without regard to the fact there were 20 years old -- 40 years ago. That's the new news.

Here is what I added to the comment box:

Let me comment on the article: Each parish also publishes a financial statement of where the money goes (i.e. expenses) which includes the salaries for the priests, religious orders, and staff who are neither. Only members of religious orders take vows of poverty. A diocesan priest has a modest salary. In a financial statement you see a big number being the sum total of all the sources of income. I think it is very helpful to see the breakdown of donations so that one gets an idea of what the gap is between the expenses of the parish and its income. If this parish has to close, how many of those dollar-a-week or five-dollars-a-week parishioners will be complaining to the bishop?