We as a family do not tithe. I wish we did, except I think it sounds scary. I've never had a conversation about this with my husband, the one who brings home the bacon, so I don't even know what he thinks about it. He does give very generously to various causes, but I don't think he thinks it through in terms of tithing, more like what you can claim for tax deductions. Maybe these posts will inspire me to talk to him about it. This is definitely an issue that needs to be explored.
My parish does tithe however. But tithing does not mean giving 10% to the poor as it originally did. They call it tithing but they only give 5%. That means 5% of any money coming into the parish (mostly through collections from its members) immediately gets designated to charities that the parish council has voted to support.
This aspect of my parish, along with its very active lay participation and its very transparent handling of all financial issues, are some of the reasons why I like attending there so much. The parish was founded right after Vatican II and the founding pastor set it up so that it very much reflected the best of those changes that came with the second Vatican Council.
There's a lot to dislike about my parish too. A lot of the groovier, looser interpretations of Vatican II took hold in various ways. (Though they are slowly being moved away from. Our current pastor who is a lovely, lovely person looks like an aging hippy with his longish hair and beard, but he is actually quite faithful in his approach). We've had various lay staff and volunteers who definitely pushed dissident views on abortion, contraception, women priests, etc. Our Religious Education directors for a very long time, both nice people on a personal level (one a sister and the other lay) definitely were more of the Call to Action variety type Catholics. It could get very tiresome to those parishioners who were irked by the disobedience and moves away from orthodox practices. However, the pastors we've had, while being very sympathetic to the emphasis on corporal works of mercy advocated in the name of social justice, didn't go overboard in support of dissident ideas. Over the years that I have been familiar with this parish, first eight years of meeting there in our homeschool co-op, and then eleven years now of being actual parishioners, I have known families who have left because it wasn't 'conservative' enough for them and I've known families who've left because it wasn't 'liberal' enough. This told me that it was a pretty good parish! Because Catholics aren't supposed to be conservative or liberal. They are just supposed to be Catholics.
I really think all parishes should be run the way St. Mark's is. I know when we give our weekly contribution, that some of it will go to support the homeless, the sick, the imprisoned, the disabled, the poor. I also know the rest of the money goes to pay for things like electricity and heat and new roofing or new carpets or computers or other repairs. It goes to do a lot of outreach for their excellent youth groups and scripture study and other social/evangelizing efforts. It pays our staff. It goes for books and mission trips and playground equipment. It goes for the mortgage which the parish is desperately trying to pay down to reduce its debt load. I don't have any problems giving to my church. No one is getting rich off the parishioners' contributions, but a wonderful, lively parish, full of love for both the Lord and the least of His brothers is being supported in very small part by the money we give.
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