I've never understood it either. It led me to being an agnostic for decades, before finding Christ in a non-denominational church. When I was about 12, we got a letter from the Priest of the Catholic Church we attended. It said that they had done some research and knew that Dad was not contributing enough according to his income. It said that he was expected to sr=tart giving more until he was giving the proper amount. We weren't very devout, but at least one of us went each week to sit through the service and drop the envelope into the basket. We got new "offering" envelopes that showed double the amount we had been giving. Dad continued to put the old amount into the new envelopes. We got another letter saying that since we were not willing to support the church properly, we were being excommunicated from that Parish and should not attend any more services there. It really soured me on religion. Today, I understand that religion, being man-made is a perversion of what Christ wanted in the Church. All religions put some burden of obedience to the institution itself, instead of asking us just to be obedient to God's Will. Jesus said his yoke was easy and his burden light as a way of telling us that coming to Him was the only requirement - all the onus of the Law was to be no more. Most churches don'y ascribe to that and insist on a lot of rituals, rites and sacraments to be performed as if we were all Israelites under the Old Coveneant.
Dear trebb,
It's regrettable that the pastor of this Catholic parish long ago drove you and your family out of the Catholic Church through his illegitimate actions.
Whatever the priest said, one cannot be excommunicated for failing to put an amount of money into the collection basket that is satisfactory to the pastor. Neither can the priest tell folks not to come to Mass if they don't give enough. Neither may the priest deny sacraments to parishioners for not giving enough money.
In fact, the direct demand for more money in exchange of sacraments is a crime in Catholic Canon Law. It's called simony. That action is actually grounds for discipline in the Catholic Church.
It's a shame that this was done to your family, and it's also a violation of Church teaching, Church discipline, and Church law.
That being said, I have heard of Catholic priests who (not rightfully, in my mind) have tried to dictate the amount of one's weekly remittance in order to permit the family's children to attend the local Catholic school. In our area, most pastors will require that families make some regular remittance to obtain favorable tuition rates, but this is on the theory that actual, active parishioners have a right to a favored tuition rate over non-parishioners. As well, these pastors merely count the presence of the envelope, not the amount in the envelope.
The last Catholic pastor that I know who required a specific amount in the envelope each week in relation to attendance at the parish Catholic school retired in the early 1970s.
sitetest
Trebb, religion isn't a perversion of what Christ wanted. You said yourself that you found Christ in a non-denominational Church--- as I read you, that means you found Christ through religion.
There are always bad apples. The priest you refer to had no power whatsoever to excommunicate you. He was not acting in obedience to tradition, but out of his own willfulness:
From New Advent:
Excommunication is an act of ecclesiastical jurisdiction, the rules of which it follows. Hence the general principle: whoever has jurisdiction in the forum externum, properly so called, can excommunicate, but only his own subjects. Therefore, whether excommunications be a jure (by the law) or ab homine (under form of sentence or precept), they may come from the pope alone or a general council for the entire Church; from the provincial council for an ecclesiastical province; from the bishop for his diocese; from the prelate nullius for quasi-diocesan territories; and from regular prelates for religious orders. Moreover, anyone can excommunicate who, by virtue of his office, even when delegated, has contentious jurisdiction in the forum externum; for instance, papal legates, vicars capitular, and vicars-general. But a parish priest cannot inflict this penalty nor even declare that it is incurred, i. e. he cannot do so in an official and judicial manner.
You don't even believe what you just wrote.
You need to ask the Lord for forgiveness right now.
Strange... i've been to too many parishes to count and I have never seen or heard such... and excommunication for not tithing... give me a break.
As I am sure... even though you attend a non-denominational Church, you have a bible ... check out Barnabas in chapter 4 of Acts (what he gaveand why) and what it says about Ananais and Sapphira later. (That's if Peter is still in your bible... btw, most bibles were made by men too and books put together by the Catholic Church... later other founders of Christianity took out what didn't fit into their particular teachings).
The bottom line is... it's about generousity and covetousness... maybe you need to go back to your parents and get the real story.
Praying for you, pray for me.
If things happened as you state, this is a matter of either abuse by the priest, or the laity managing parish matters.
The threat of excommunication was bogus and invalid under these circumstances.
Bad behavior by these individuals, or other Church representatives is not a reason, but an excuse to discontinue in the beliefs and teachings of the Catholic Church.
Who sent the letter?
Ooooh, and then let me guess, he came to your house and took your bible so you couldn't read it yourself -- oh wait, that's right, you were never allowed to have a bible in the first place, were you? And don't forget to tell about all those times you were forced to worship statues. That one's always a high point of these threads.
Hm. Either you saw this information and misinterpreted it, or Mom and Dad lied to you about why your family left the Church. No one - I mean NO ONE - would be excommunicated because of tithing. This is patently absurd.