Contributions

Contributions.—Contributions to the support of the clergy and church causes are neither sacrifices nor offerings in the strict sense of these words, since they are given not directly to God but to the ministers of God. The manner of making contributions to the Church has varied with time.

(a) Thus, in the first ages of the Church clerics having the care of souls were supported by the voluntary gifts of the people. These gifts were made especially during Mass. Bread and wine and other things necessary for divine worship and the support of the clergy were brought at the Offertory (the origin of the present Offertory collection), while food for the agapae or for the poor was presented for a blessing towards the end of the Canon, or before Mass.

(b) After peace had been given to the Church and the number of the faithful and of the clergy had greatly increased, it was found necessary to devise means for a more regular and certain supply of income. As early as the sixth century the ancient customs of first-fruits and tithes were made the subjects of conciliar enactments and imposed as specific taxes on crops or revenues. A more permanent system of church support was that of endowments or benefices which, owing to the increasing difficulties of older methods, sprang up about the sixth century and became universal in the eleventh. Fees in connection with the administration of sacred rites and stipends for Masses were in use in the seventh century.

(c) Today the system of benefices is the rule, while first-fruits and tithes are rare, though recognized by Canon Law. In some countries where benefices have been confiscated, part compensation is made in the form of pensions; in other countries (e.g., in the United States) the free-will offerings of the faithful is the usual system.

Obligation of Contributing to the Support of the Clergy.—(a) Natural Law.—Those who serve the common welfare, whether in spiritual or in temporal matters, should be supported by those whom they serve; for, as their time and labor is given to others, it is a duty of justice that these latter make a return for the benefits received. Hence, just as citizens are naturally bound to contribute to public officials, so are the faithful naturally bound to contribute according to their means to the ministers of religion.

(b) Divine Law.—Our Lord commanded His disciples to depend for their maintenance on those to whom they preached (“For the laborer is worthy of his meat,” Matt., x. 10); and hence St. Paul says (I Cor., ix. 13, 14): “They who work in the holy place eat the things that are of the holy place, and they that serve the altar partake with the altar. So also the Lord ordained that they who preach the Gospel should live by the Gospel.”

(c) Church Law.—The Canons reaffirm what is of natural and divine law, namely, that the faithful are obliged to support the clergy (Canon 1496); and as to the manner of making contributions they sanction local customs, such as parish payments (Canon 463) and tithes and first-fruits (Canon 1502), command the payment of cathedraticum (Canon 1504), etc.

The Church, the Apostolic See, individual churches and moral persons of ecclesiastical law have the right to the temporal means requisite for their mission; and hence the faithful have the duty to contribute to necessary church causes, such as divine worship, the spread of the Gospel, and charity (Canons 1495 sqq.).

Quality of the Obligation of Contributing to the Church.—(a) The obligation is one of justice as well as of religion, for there is a quasi-contract between the faithful on the one side and the Church and its ministers on the other side, the latter being obliged to give spiritual ministries and benefits, the former to supply the temporal sustenance and means. Hence, St. Paul compares the salaries given to the clergy to the wages or fruits paid to the laborer. It is not strange that those who sow spiritual things for others, should reap from the temporal things of the latter: for a soldier does not serve at his own expense; a planter, a shepherd, a plowman, and a thresher expect a share from their labors; indeed, even the animal that serves man is worth its keep (cfr. I Cor., ix. 4 sqq.).

(b) The obligation is grave, because it arises both from justice and from religion (see 1748, 2148). He who refuses to contribute to the Church evades payment for services given him and also denies to divine worship his share of support.

Attitude Towards Persons Refusing to Contribute.—The duties of the priest towards those who refuse to contribute their share to the support of the Church may be defined as follows:

(a) as to absolution, it should not be denied unless there is certainty that the penitent is in grave sin. Hence, according to Kenrick and the common opinion, unless there is a law fixing a tax or the delinquent church member is inflicting severe privation on the church or heavy burdens on others who have to contribute more than their share, the confessor should not enjoin payment under pain of denial of absolution. Apart from these cases, the Church, for the sake of souls, does not insist upon her right, as we see in the dealings of St. Paul with the Corinthians who neglected to give towards his support. The Apostle did not correct these men, although he would have done so had he considered them guilty of mortal sin;

(b) as to restitution, it seems it should not be insisted on. One who has guiltily refused to pay his church dues has offended justice, it is true, but the Church is concerned more with spiritual than with temporal things, and rather than place an obstacle to the conversion of a sinner or occasion scandal to the weak, she prefers to forego what is really her due (see 1487);

(c) as to administration of the Sacraments or sacramentals, it should not be denied to those who are unable or unwilling to pay the customary fees. The recipient of the rites disgraces himself by unwillingness to do what others do, but religion itself would be degraded if the rites were refused for reasons of money.

Those to Whom Religious Contributions Are Due.—(a) The entire Church should contribute to the support of the Pope, the Pastor of the whole flock of Christ, who is charged with the welfare of all. In the Old Law the Levites themselves were obliged to pay tithes to the high-priest (Num, xviii. 26 sqq.); but the amount to be given to Peter’s Pence is left to the generosity and religious devotion of the contributors. (b) Each individual church or body in the Church should contribute to its own bishop or superior a just amount for necessary uses, as determined by law or lawful custom.

S. Th. II-II, q. 86 and 87.

705. Oblation {offerande} generally is the bestowal of some thing not asked for; hence religious oblation is a spontaneous largess for divine worship. Taken generically, it also includes sacrifice, in which a thing is offered insofar as it is to be consumed into something sacred (n. 694); taken specifically, as distinct from sacrifice, it is the largess of a thing as whole in honor of God.

One kind is immediate and properly so called, by which something is immediately offered to God in His honor, whether to be deputed to worship itself, or to the uses of the ministers, or to the use of the poor: then the priest accepts, not indeed in his own name, but in the name of God.¹ Thus formerly the first-fruits of the fruits of the earth and of animals were offered from special reverence and gratitude for divine worship; today various collections are made for pious works. Another kind is mediate and improperly so called, which is immediately offered to priests, as tithes in the Old Testament and in the Middle Ages were imposed for the sustenance of ministers, and now Mass stipends are offered: then the priest accepts in his own name (q. 85, a. 3, ad 3; q. 86, a. 1 and 2).

¹ "The priest is constituted in a certain way as sequestrator and mediator between the people and God,... and therefore it pertains to him to exhibit divine dogmas and sacraments to the people; and again those things which are of the people, such as prayers, and sacrifices, and oblations, ought to be exhibited to the Lord through him, according to the Apostle to the Hebrews V, 1. ... And therefore the oblations which are exhibited to God by the people pertain to priests, not only so that they may convert them to their own uses, but also so that they may dispense them faithfully, partly indeed by expending them on those things which pertain to divine worship, partly on those things which pertain to their own sustenance, and partly also for the uses of the poor, who are to be sustained, as far as possible, from the goods of the Church, because the Lord also had purses for the use of the poor," q. 86, a. 2.

706. Oblation according to its nature is voluntary and free; but per accidens it can be obligatory:

1. From contract, as if someone receives land of the church under the condition that at certain times he make oblations, by way of rent.

2. From a preceding deputation or promise, as if someone by donation or testament leaves some thing afterward to be paid to the church.

3. From the necessity of the church or of ministers: for natural law dictates this, that the people supply necessary support to those who minister in divine worship for the salvation of the whole people; furthermore divine law established this (Mt. X, 10; I Cor. IX, 13). Namely, public worship cannot conveniently be had without churches, ornaments, ministers; therefore the faithful are bound by oblations to procure that the things necessary for public worship be had, and therefore, in a case of necessity, oblations can be prescribed by the Church to all the faithful.

4. From custom the faithful are bound in certain solemnities to certain customary oblations, for example, on the occasion of the reception of some sacrament (such as Baptism or Extreme Unction), of proclamation, dispensation, funerals, etc.

When an oblation is obligatory, it often remains voluntary in some way as to the quantity or species of the thing offered; nevertheless the Church can also stipulate the quantity and impose a determinate tax, and thus it has done several times (a. 1).

707. An oblation can be made, as far as is of itself, from all things licitly possessed; - per accidens it can be illicit, for example, 1. if it tends to the detriment of another to whom a debt or assistance is to be rendered; 2. on account of scandal, if it is made from profit received from sins, for example, from prostitution; 3. on account of contempt, if a vile or useless thing is offered, etc. (a. 3).

708. The precept of the sustenance of ministers. - By natural and divine law, as we noted in n. 706, the faithful are bound to supply the necessaries for sustenance to pastors and ministers; this was also confirmed by ecclesiastical law (can. 1502), which can determine this obligation as to mode and quantity.

In the first centuries of the Church the spontaneous oblations of the faithful sufficed for this; afterward tithes had to be paid by precept. But with this law abrogated almost everywhere, in several places provision has been made for the sustenance of pastors either by the revenues of benefices and stole fees or also partly by a pension paid by the government; but where provision has not been made otherwise, the obligation falls upon the faithful of contributing the necessaries for this, as in North America.

The precept is certain, as is clear from the profession imposed on the Waldensians, and from the condemnation of prop. 18 of Wycliffe, and of itself it obliges under grave obligation. And indeed 1. if it has been accurately determined anywhere, it must be observed in this way by the faithful; 2. but where it has not been determined, the obligation generally falls upon individual faithful, according to their resources, of contributing something for the sustenance of their ministers.

In practice, however, a) the faithful are not easily to be accused of grave sin, unless without reason they refuse a subsidy, and thus are the cause that priests are in need or at least in a certain serious want;

b) although those denying an imposed subsidy commit a sin of a twofold species, of irreligion and injustice, the Church nevertheless does not seem to urge its right under the burden of restitution; hence the sin seems rather to be opposed to legal justice than to commutative justice;

c) indeed, generally a priest who would deny the sacraments to those not paying would act against the mind of the Church;

d) besides, in collecting the subsidies of the faithful, priests should diligently beware of all things which may introduce suspicion of avarice.

709. Observation. - Supreme adoration is formally referred to reverence for God (q. 84, a. 1, a. 2, ad 2); oblation properly so called is specially referred to the recognition of divine benefits (q. 86, a. 4); sacrifice is specially referred to the protestation of the supreme dominion of God, because we have all things from God and they are God's (I-II, q. 102, a. 3).

Although the oblations of first-fruits commanded in the Old Law were figurative, and therefore abrogated at this time, yet insofar as something was given to God out of Religion they were not abrogated; and therefore even at this time they can be offered to God, as D. Thom. says here, and Valentia disp. 6. quaest. 4. p. 4. The reason is given by S. Bonav. in 4. dist. 1. p. 1. quaest. 3.: because these are offered to God as due to the Creator, Benefactor, and Giver of all things; therefore they were offered from the instinct of nature even by those who did not acknowledge the figures, and now also they ought to endure for this reason, that we are bound to acknowledge God as the giver of all things.

This rite Gregory VII approves in cap. 11 Omnis de consecr. dist. 1., saying: Let every Christian take care to offer something at the solemnities of the Mass.

Nauar. Man. cap. 13. num. 19. and Sylvest. verbo decima say that where there is the custom of offering at Mass, it suffices if the greater part of the people offer, and therefore he does not sin who once or twice does not offer, unless he omits it out of contempt, or is the cause that the greater part of the people do not offer.

D. Thom. also notes art. 1. ad 3., with Cajetan, that although the one who is unwilling to make oblations should be punished by a superior, yet the priest, to whom those oblations were to be made, ought not to deny him the sacraments.

These oblations accrue to the Rector of the Church. So Sylvest. loc. cit. and Valentia here, following D. Thom. art. 2. The things offered, moreover, must be good, not vitiated. See Cajetan and Valentia. But this is so provided other things are also guarded against, namely that the things be not by the natural precept owed to others, for instance for the use of poor parents; or that they come from base gain. Hence nothing is to be offered from the wages of a brothel, as D. Thom. notes art. 3., commonly with D. Bonav. in 4. dist. 15. p. 2. art. 2. quaest. 1.; for this was commanded even in Deuter. 23.

Moreover, all Theologians and Canonists, as cited by Suar. tract. 1. l. 1. cap. 8. num. 14, assert that in the Church of grace the precept of offering first-fruits to God is broad in scope. See C. Revertimini 16. quaest. 1. and Greg. VII. cap. decimas 16. quaest. 7.

THE distinction between Sacrifice and Oblation is that of genus and species; for every Sacrifice is an oblation, but not the reverse. Among oblations the chief are First-fruits and Tithes; formerly both were paid by force of the ceremonial law, at least in respect of some determination; but now they are usually paid for the sustenance of the Church's ministers, or in recognition of natural gratitude.

On First-fruits nothing special remains to be explained beyond what has already been said; for although various chapters of Law, and likewise the Fathers and councils, intimate for them an obligation equal to that of Tithes, as in Suarez, cited in the place above, yet in various places they have fallen into disuse, either on account of the perversity of Heretics, or because the Ministers of the Churches are sufficiently sustained by Tithes and other means. Wherefore I shall here subjoin only a few things about Tithes. It should be noted, moreover, that Tithes take their name from the number ten, which among all numbers is the most perfect, as I shall show below; whence those offering this perfect number to God retain the imperfect for ourselves, arguing as it were that every perfect thing is to be rendered back to God; from which head D. Paul was inferring the greatness of Melchisedech, who prefigured Christ for us: consider (he says) how great this one is, to whom even Abraham the Patriarch gave tithes out of the chief things.

HERETICS, according to their custom, reprehend this holy practice of paying to the Church a tenth part of fruits or of other things: Valentia reports them disp. 6. quaest. 5. punct. 1. This error is condemned in the Council of Const. sess. 8., and is the eighteenth among the errors of Wyclif; and therefore the Council of Trent sess. 25. cap. 12. declares: Those who withhold or hinder tithes are to be excommunicated; nor are they to be absolved from this crime except after full restitution has been made. Understand, however, with Navar. cap. 21. num. 32., when restitution can be made before absolution, when no necessity presses, such as death or other, in order that absolution may come first. And in the Clementina Cupientes, de poenis, Religious are excommunicated who in sermons dissuade the payment of tithes.

MOREOVER, God had instituted tithes to be paid in the time of the old law, to honor God as rewarder, and to profess faith in the Redeemer, as D. Bonav. teaches in 4. dist. 1. p. 2. quaest. 3., and for the institution of a right life.

FIRST, indeed, God the rewarder is honored by tithes, (says the holy Doctor). For the number ten is the most perfect, because it has three perfections in itself. The first is of unity, which is perfect, since it is the beginning of every number. The second of the ternary, which is a perfect number consisting of all its parts, both aliquot and non-aliquot. The third of the senary, which consists of all its aliquot parts. And these together make up the denary, in which is the state [of perfection]: for those wishing to ascend again resume counting: undenarius, duodenarius, etc., adding units to the denary up to the hundredth number, from which one sheep went astray. This is the reason of Chrysost. homil. 1. Imperf. apud Suar. c. 11. n. 5.

SECOND, tithes are ordered to the professing of faith in the Redeemer. For man is expressed by the tenth drachma that was lost; which, when found, completes the ten choirs in heaven, as Beda says in Glossa ad 15. Lucae, and at that place the holy Doctor, with the Gloss, understands by the woman wisdom; by the ten drachmas, or denarii, the nine choirs of Angels and the tenth of man, which God fashioned, hewn from His own image. Hence, they say, God commanded tithes to be brought to Himself to signify the redemption of man, and gave the ten commandments. See the holy Doctor excelling there in his distinction.

THIRD, tithes are ordered to the institution of a right manner of life; for while a tenth part is given to God, that which is the perfection of our life is referred to Him, and the remainder, which is imperfect, is left to us. See the holy Doctor.

THIS payment is indeed excellently proved by D. Bonav. ad 10. Lucae from those words: But in the same house remain, eating and drinking such things as they have: for the labourer is worthy of his hire.

FURTHER he proves it from 1 Cor. 9, not only by the authority but by the arguments of the Apostle: Who ever serves in the army at his own charges? Who plants a vineyard and does not eat of its fruit? Who feeds a flock and does not eat of its milk? etc. For it is written in the law of Moses: You shall not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treads out the corn. Does God care for oxen? Or does he speak indeed for our sakes? For these things are written for us, that he who ploughs ought to plough in hope, and he who threshes, in hope to receive fruit. If we have sown spiritual things among you, is it a great matter if we reap your carnal things?

HENCE he proves it from 6. ad Galatas: Let him that is taught in the word communicate to him that teaches him, in all good things.

THE SAME is found in 1 Timot. 5: The Priests that rule well are worthy of double honour: especially they who labour in word and doctrine. For the Scripture says: You shall not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treads out the corn.

THE holy Doctor confirms it with the argument of Christ: For the labourer is worthy of his hire, which sense is also expounded by D. August. in Psalm. 146. et lib. 10. homiliarum, homil. 48., who says most beautifully: Our forefathers abounded in all riches because they gave tithes to God and paid tribute to Caesar. But now, since devotion to God has withdrawn, the exaction of the fisc has come in. We refused to share tithes with God; now the whole is taken away: the fisc takes what Christ does not receive. Valentia also uses these means disp. 5. quaest. 5. punct. 1., and Suar. tract. 2. l. 1. cap. 10. et sequent.

THE SAME is proved from the Decretals tit. de decimis. See Valentia loc. cit. and Suar.

But by what right tithes are paid.

THE holy Doctor supposes in 4. dist. 1. p. 2. quaest. 3. that tithes were introduced by the law of nature, and soon also established by Divine law; for thus all the Jews gave tithes to the Priests, and these gave a tenth of the tithes to the Pontiff, Numer. 18, and this was called the tithe of the tithe, as D. Bonav. notes ad Psal. 64.

THE holy Doctor, on the title of Psalm 93, which is inscribed quarta Sabbathi, observes that this fourth of the Sabbath is Wednesday, on which the Lights were created, and in it the brightness of the Church itself was shadowed forth; and therefore the four Ember seasons begin on Wednesday, and Lent on Wednesday. For we ought to offer the first-fruits of the times, that is, the four Ember seasons, and the tithe of the days, that is, Lent. Wherefore we give a tenth rather than a ninth or eleventh; because the tenth order of Angels fell, which is to be restored to men.

DOCTORS indeed dispute: what quota ¹, that which is the tithe itself, is still owed by Divine law to the Ministers of the Church. ¹ N. Editor's note: the print reads 'an quota partis' (hyphenated 'par-tis' across a line break), an obvious print typo; rendered as 'quota pars' (what portion) because 'partis' is ungrammatical here.

INNOCENTIUS in Rubr. de decimis, and the Gloss on cap. 1. de decimis, lib. 6., and other Jurists cited by Couar. l. 1. var. cap. 17. and by Nauarro Man. cap. 21. num. 28., think that by Divine law men are bound not only to pay something for the sustenance of the Church's ministers, but to a quota, that is, a tithe.

THE FOUNDATION of these is, that the Pontiffs in the Decretals extra, de Decimis say that tithes are to be paid by divine precept. Likewise that they were not established by men but by God: C. Parochianos, C. Tua nobis, C. Cum non sint, and C. In quibusdam.

THE TRUE opinion, however, is that the quota, that is, the tithe, is not to be paid from an old, but now from an Ecclesiastical precept. But from a Divine precept a sufficient recompense is to be given to the ministers of the Church for their sustenance. So D. Thom. art. 1., Suar. cap. 10. n. 1., Nauar., Couar. above, Valentia quaest. 5. punct. 1., who says this is common to the Theologians, whom Suar. cites. Indeed Maior in 3. dist. 37. quaest. 36. reprehends the opposite opinion as Judaizing.

This is without doubt the opinion of D. Bonav., who ad 10. Lucae and in the other places cited understands the payment of tithes in that sense alone, as is clear to the reader, and he expounds the Scriptures above adduced by the holy Doctor from the New Testament in this way.

TO the Decretals the Theologians cited by Valentia reply that an exemplary or imitative observance is meant, that is, that tithes are to be paid by Ecclesiastical law, imitating the ancient Divine precept; hence he who precepts it after the manner of the divine law asserts its greater firmness, as Suar. notes cap. 10.

I would add that those Decretals register the institution of this rite, but that the Church changed the modes and retained that in which we are still bound now that the Redemption is already accomplished, namely to pay something to God the rewarder.

From what has been said I conclude, with the common opinion, that the law of tithes as regards the quota can be abolished by a contrary custom. The reason, as given by Valentia puncto 2., is that it is a human law, which can be abrogated by a reasonable and prescriptive custom.

ON this Suar. treats more fully cap. 34.

IT IS DECREED by law that tithes be paid from all things justly divided, and hence from the fruits of lands and of other fruitful things, and of mills, fishponds, etc., which are called praedial tithes. Likewise from the profit of any personal trade, military service, hunting, which are called personal tithes. And also of cattle and sheep, which can be called mixed; because they are ascribed partly to the fruits of lands, by which they are fed, partly to industry.

Coelestinus III asserts that tithes are to be paid from all these: C. Non est, extra de Decimis. By custom, however, only the praedial ones are in use, and some mixed ones, as Navar. notes num. 31. cap. 31., Valentia p. 3., Suar. cap. 10., Bassaeus v. Decimae. But the personal ones, by a now-prescribed custom, are not paid anywhere in the world. See the Doctors in Fag. praec. 5. l. 1. cap. 2., Bonac. de decimis, p. 2., Bassaeo num. 40.

I ASSERT first that tithes are to be paid not to Laymen but to the ministers of the Church: C. Quamvis grave, de decimis; and he seems to understand it of those only who have the care of souls, cap. Cum contingat de decimis. So D. Bonav. intimates ad 10. Lucae.

But from the tithe-revenues of these, curates and their clerics are accustomed to be fed, as Valentia notes punct. 4. quaest. 5. And given the precept of the Church, they are to be paid also to the body of Ecclesiastics; so D. Thom. quaest. 87. art. 3. and others cited by Bass. num. 10.

I ASSERT second: praedial tithes pertain to the Parish priests of the place where the lands are. So D. Thom. art. 3. ad 1., and it is gathered ex c. Quoniam de decimis and cap. ult. de Parochis. In this, however, one must stand by custom, as is had in c. Ad Apostolicam and c. Cum sint de Decim, and D. Thom. hands down art. 3. ad 2.

I ASSERT third that by concession of the Supreme Pontiff tithe-fruits can be extended to the uses of Laymen. First, by sale or donation. Second, by privilege of the Supreme Pontiff for a time or in perpetuity. Third, by concession in perpetual feud, made by some Prelate of the Church before the Lateran Council under Alexander III, which was celebrated in 1107: c. Cum Apostolica. After the said Council, however, no Prelate inferior to the Supreme Pontiff can grant such a feud to Laymen.

FOURTH, by a concession in feud made by a Prelate of some Church, if such tithes were once legitimately possessed by Laymen under the title of feud and have returned from the feud to the Church. So Valentia and others.

FIFTH, by the title of Lease: c. Vestra, de locato, et conducto; provided the direct dominion remain with the Ecclesiastic who leases, as D. Thom. notes art. 3. ad 3., and only its fruit be with the Layman who takes the lease; nor is this lease to be made in perpetuity, as Sylvester notes v. Decimae, nor beyond three years, where the Extravagant of Paul III de rebus Ecclesiae non alienandis has been received, which forbids this under excommunication.

IN this category also the Council of Trent sess. 25. cap. 11. de reform. declares void whatsoever leases of the goods of Churches, even confirmed with Apostolic authority, which a Provincial Synod, or those deputed by it, shall judge to have been contracted for a long time, even thirty years, to the damage of the Church and against the Canonical sanctions.