The Church’s catechesis regarding Mass intentions and the practice of stipends has been and continues to be deplorable and scandalous.
Finally (in my lifetime), a Pope has had the courage to at least address the matter and label it for the reprehensible practice it has been and continues to be.
On Wednesday, Pope Francis issued a harsh critique of the trend to ask parishioners for a financial contribution in order to have Mass said for a loved one, saying that to make a personal offering is fine, but the liturgy should never have a price tag.
“If I have someone who is in need, relatives and friends, I can name them in that moment, internally in silence,” he said, referring to the moments of silence during the Eucharistic Prayer recited in Mass.
However, he also discussed the expectation in many parishes of having the faithful pay for a Mass to be offered for a specific person.
“The Mass,” he said, “is not paid for, redemption is free. If you want to make an offering, okay, but the Mass cannot be paid for.”
The Holy Father spoke during his March 7 General Audience, which this week centered on the Eucharistic Prayer as part of his ongoing catechesis on Mass and the Eucharist.
Ask the average Catholic about the Church’s official teaching on the subject and you will find that most believe that they are “buying a Mass” which will be offered solely for the person whom they are asking be remembered at a specific celebration of the Eucharist.
But, in fact, the official teaching of the Church is that no one receives any more graces or merit by being specifically remembered than someone who is for whom a Mass intention is never offered.
So, what actually happens when a specific individual is remembered by way of a Mass intention and offering?
No more or less than what happens by not having that person remembered.
The graces flowing from the Eucharist are infinite, and apply equally to every human being who has ever lived. Grace from the Eucharist comes to all of us, whether or not a particular intention is remembered or offered at a specific celebration of the Mass.
The ancient custom of providing gifts (stips) to a Priest in response for his offering Mass began when the Church was quite poor. The gift that a Priest received for celebrating his daily Mass for a specific intention was oftentimes his sole source of income.
Over time, abuses arose on account of human weakness and avarice. The custom of offering stips (gifts) to the Priest degenerated into the practice of providing a stipend (payment) for service.
The pre-Reformation practice of communities of Priests who had no other ministry except to say Mass all day was a logical result of holding such abuse.
Martin Luther remarked he once watched three consecutive Masses being said on the main altar of Rome's St. Peter in Chains Church in less than a half hour.
Whole religious communities were not only supported by stipends; they got rich from them. The faster Masses were said, the more Masses could be said. Priests didn't even waste time reading the Eucharistic formularies; many simply memorized one formula and kept repeating it over and over again.
Thankfully, the Council of Trent got rid of the worst stipend abuses — for instance, they limited Priests to just one Mass stipend a day, except on special occasions — but not even those 16th-century reforming Bishops had the courage to completely abolish the practice. By then, it was too deeply ingrained into Catholic people's approach to the Faith.
Still today, in many poor countries, a Priest’s Mass stipend remains a primary source of his support.
While Mass stipends in developed nations do not serve the same purpose today, the Church’s laws surrounding the teaching on Mass stipends remains essentially the same.
The problem that was and remains is this: once the Church began to look at the Eucharist as a thing instead of an action, it became a commodity. In some sense, like all commodities, it could be bought and sold.
And, if the truth be told (as Pope Francis just attempted telling it), this is the common understanding of Catholics: that they “buy” a Mass by way of "paying the Priest" a stipend to have a particular intention remembered.
In my own personal experience, I remember serving on an ad hoc Committee established by the Presbyteral Council of the Archdiocese of Saint Louis to address the matter of Priests’ salaries which were woefully insufficient and, quite honestly, insulting to the Church's teachings on a just wage.
The members of the Committee formally requested that Archbishop John May suppress the practice of Mass stipends being used to augment Priests’ incomes. The Archbishop would hear none of this. The practice continues to this very day in the Archdiocese of Saint Louis.
A dear Priest friend of mine in a diocese where the Priests voluntarily agreed not to personally take Mass stipends has told me of his personal knowledge that a number of Pastors did not hesitate to reduce Masses during the week.
I long ago stopped personally accepting stipends for Mass or associating any fee for Sacramental or spiritual services. Any such offerings were placed in a special fund from which I administered financial help to the poor of the parish.
I am aware that my feelings about stipends and fees connected to the Sacraments may be rare among my Priest-brothers.
I also believe that Catholics have no major issues regarding stipends because they simply want their loved one’s not to be forgotten. Seeing their names in the Mass Intentions section of their parish bulletin gives them some sort of ongoing presence even after they have died.
But I do welcome the words of Pope Francis in reminding us all that the Mass and the Grace of Redemption comes to us as pure and unconditional gift from Our Heavenly Father through the Sacrifice of Jesus for our sins.
We would do well to keep in mind that, at every moment of every day wherever and whenever a Mass is offered, we and all our loved ones, living and deceased, are remembered before Our Heavenly Father and the Grace that flows from Calvary comes to us abundantly and generously from the wounds of Christ Himself.
That gift no amount of money, no offering, stip or stipend, can ever match or purchase.
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