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>>Well then, what do you call it when people buy “mass cards” and such for the dead? <<

That’s not an indulgence, it’s a novena mass in honor of that person. It actually cost nothing in most places and in many more, it’s the price of the card. We are asked for a donation at my parish. It’s not a payment for a “get out of Jail free” card. It covers the cost of the card, the priest’s time, the light bill, the heat. In some places, like with Brothers, Holy Masses are said just for the intentions of others. You wouldn’t begrudge these fine men a bit to cover their expenses, would you? Geez, we give a waiter a tip, why not a Priest?

We have them for the living as well. I plan on having a Holy Mass said for my darling hubby for our anniversary this year.

I’m so sorry that you really detest us Papists so much. You seem like a very nice person who just needs a good Catholic to show you that we are not so evil. I’ll pray for you as I’m sure you will for me (although I won’t be praying for your conversion). And I trust you’ll be in Our Lord’s arms one day as well!

I'm not trying to belittle you, but you really do not understand some parts of your faith.

Some signs which indicate the importance of popular religious culture are: the increasing participation of people in pilgrimages to shrines (especially Marian shrines), the tradition in families of baptizing children, the giving of alms for the souls in Purgatory and celebrating Masses for the deceased, patronal feasts with their characteristic processions and the celebration of Holy Mass (generally attended by large numbers of people), devotion to the saints, not only those of the universal Church but also those of the American continent, etc..(26) These and many other expressions of popular piety offer excellent opportunities for the faithful to encounter the living Jesus Christ. In fact, the ecclesial community, in coming together for the celebration of the Word and Sacrament in memory of the saints, remembers in a particular way those who faithfully imitated in their lives the Savior of the world, and that same community enters into communion with those who are part of the heavenly Church. It is for this reason that popular piety--purified and duly catechized--may come to be a decisive element in the new evangelization. This is a point on which most of the answers to the Lineamenta agree.
Synod of Bishops: Encounter with the living Jesus Christ, 1997

"Giving alms" is a synonym for buying indulgences.