Palma: Sacraments are free

CEBU, Philippines — Catholic faithful should not be deprived from receiving Holy Sacraments such as the Eucharist or Mass because of monetary constraints.

Cebu Archbishop José Palma emphasized on Thursday this general rule after a Facebook post went viral about a note supposedly posted by a parish in Cebu City reminding parishioners of the P50 minimum offering for the Mass.

“This [concern] has been determined already… spiritual gifts (like) Masses should be at the reach of other people and money should not be a hindrance for them to be able to receive the sacraments,” Palma told reporters yesterday.

In a November 21 post, a Facebook user shared that he was surprised when the parish staff refused to accept his P20 Mass offering since a P50 minimum fee has been set by the parish.

A photo showing the message “Pahibalo: Angatong minimum nga amount sapamisakay tag Php 50.00 na.DaghangSalamat,” was shown by reporters to Palma yesterday.

Palma said that people neither “buys” nor “pays” for the liturgical rites like the Mass but, as what has been practiced for a long time already, they may give any amount of contribution to the parish.

“Supposed to be, the practice lately is for others to just give a contribution… Whether it is P50 or P20, it depends on the community,” he said.

Palma, however, admitted that offering money to the priest has long been practiced by parishioners receiving the sacraments like Eucharist, baptism, and wedding.

The amount is called stipend that may be used for the “sustenance” of the priest.

“Through the years, there had been all of those stipends (for Mass, baptism and wedding). This is our way of like determining what would be considered as recommendable for a specific diocese or region and stipends should be read in that context. It is not something new,” he said.

Priests, as his primary obligation, perform rites and administer sacraments and do not typically source money out of it or work in other duties to find income.

Particularly for newly-assigned or novice priests, Palma said some would devise their means to make people aware or understand of their needs and ask for support especially in the finances of the parish.

He also recognized that each person may take the note in different ways based on their perspective but he was also open to hearing the sentiments from the public.

“Again, it depends on how we look at such a reminder. If that is offensive, we would like to know,” he said. (FREEMAN)