CHURCH
763
CHURCH
tion; neither, for the same reason, do we enter into any
detail concerning the regulations made for benefices
and those who hold them. It is intended merely to
point out, in general, the temporal means and the
sources of support of ecclesiastical institutions and of
the clergy during the course of the Church's history.
The rapacities of Governments and the violence of
revolutions have torn from the Church many of her
endowments in most countries of Europe, and all of
them in some. In such cases the clergy must again,
as in the earliest times, look to the direct generosity
of the faithful for their support and for the means
of carrying on the liturgical and benevolent institu-
tions of the Church.
Missionary Countries. — It is particularly in countries where the Church has never been endowed and established, and in those whereallsuchadvantages have been entirely withdrawn from her, that the problem of Church maintenance must be faced in all its nakedness. To show what means have been em- ployed to. solve this difficult problem, and likewise to give some appreciation of the generosity of the not over-wealthy faithful on the one hand and of the care of ecclesiastical rulers to avoid abuses on the other, it will be well to chronicle the decrees of various synods in countries where church maintenance is a burning question. The synods, first of all, insist on the fact that the faithful are bound by the Divine law to support the clergy who are their spiritual guides. The First Synod of Baltimore in 1791 declares: "Owing to the increasing number of Catholics dis- ivit widely-separated tracts of the United States, there is need of a much larger number than formerly of labourers in the Lord's vineyard, and these cannot be obtained or supported unless the means be given by the faithful, as indeed they are bound by Divine precept to give them, for the Apos- tle Bays that it is but just that those who sow spir- itual things for others should reap of the hitter's carnal tilings (I Cor., ix. 11). Therefore the faithful should be frequently reminded of this obligation, and if they do not satisfy it, they have only themselves to blame if they cannot have Mass on Sundays or feast days nor obtain the sacraments in their extreme
t ies. Consequently, when in proportion to the worldly goods with which God has endowed them, they re-fuse to contribute to the ministry of salvation. and" so do not satisfy the Divine and* ecclesiastical precept through their own fault, let them know that they are in a state of sin and unworthy of obtaining
iliation in the tribunal of penance; and more- over that they will have to give an account to God,
- ly for their own sins, but also for the dense
ignorance and vices of the poor who on account of the miserable parsimony of the richer people are entirely deprived of Christian instruction. In order therefore that what is done in other parts of the Christian world should have a beginning among us, we have decrees concerning the offerings of the faithful" i Deer. 23). The Fathers give these regulations con- cerning the contributions: "The offerings according to the ancient custom of the Church, are to be divided into three part> if it : so that one part
may be applied to the support of the priest, one to the relief of the poor, and one for obtaining such tilings as are necessary for the Divine worship ami the church fabric. If provision has already been made from other sources for the sustentation of the min- <l for (lie relief of the indi- gent then all the offerings should be used for pro- curing oeci ary for
the Divine service, for repairing the churches or for building new 7). In 1837, the lathers
of the Third Provincial Council of Baltimore say: 'Lest prie ts be for..-.] to beg or sutler such penury as is unbecoming to t heir sacred order, we exhort the bishops to admonish the faithful of their duty to sup-
ply a proper sustenance for those especially who
labour in word and doctrine among them. And if
on account of sickness or other cause they be not able
to fulfil their sacred ministry, lest affliction be added
to affliction, let what is necessary be supplied to them
by the faithful to whom they have ministered. If the
congregation be too poor to do so, we exhort the bish-
ops to use all the means in their power to arouse the
charity of other priests and other congregations in
their behalf" (Deer. 2). The Third Provincial Coun-
cil of Cincinnati, in 1861, declares: "Treating of the
proper support of the pastor, the Fathers unani-
mously agreed that the faithful are bound under grave
sin to give him sustenance; but that the pastor on his
side, if called to assist a dying person who has refused
to fulfil this duty though able to do so, is also bound
under grave sin to visit him, on account of the serious
obligation of charity towards a dying man placed
in extreme necessity." In England, we find the
following in the First Provincial Council of West-
minster, held in the year 1855: "As the duty of pay-
ing tithes does not exist among us, let the faithful be
warned that they are not freed thereby from the
obligation of providing for Divine worship and for the
proper support of the sacred ministers" (Deer. 4).
"The faithful who through devotion or for any other
cause do not frequent the quasi-parochial church or
missionary- to whom by domicile they are assigned,
should not imagine themselves to be freed from the
obligation of assisting the church and supporting
their pastors. They should also be as solicitous as
those who attend their proper church for relieving
the misery of the poor and for educating the young.
Therefore, by almsgiving according to their means,
let them strengthen t heir legitimate pastors who must
sustain the burden and heat of the day in cultivating
the vineyard of the Lord" (Deer. 5). The payment
of tithes is declared to be binding on the faithful of
the Canadian Province of Quebec by the Fourth
Provincial Council, in 1868: "As the error has crept
into many minds that tithes and other debts which
are paid to the Church or her ministers for their
support and to enable them to fulfil their duties
towards the faithful of whom they have spiritual
charge, are to be paid only through force of civil
law, and that the obligation of giving them does not
arise from any other source, in order that this error
be entirely corrected and completely removed, we
consider it opportune to declare and decree that this
obligation is derived specially from the laws which t he
Church herself has made or can make independently
of the civil law; .and that it pertains to the bishop of
each diocese to impose precepts concerning this
matter upon the faithful, as necessity shall require,
and taking into consideration circumstances of per-
sons and places. Wherefore if it seems just and
opportune to the bishop to demand a tax, defined
with proper moderation, of the faithful of any place,
whether the civil law there prescribes or does not prescribe the paying of tithes, let each of them pay it to the priest to whom under any title belongs the duty of ministering to their spiritual needs. There can be no doubt that the faithful of that place severally are bound in justice and conscience to pay this tax. and anyone who refuses is to be visited with pens according to the circumstances. What has been said of the obligation on the faithful of supporting their
pastors is also to be held concerning I he building and
the reparation of temples and churches, namely
that it bind- the conscience of the I litl ful" Deer
16 . In Ireland, the Third Provincial Council of
Tuain. in 1858, treats also of tithe "In collecting the offerings of the faithful, who emulating the first Christians and even the Hebrews are accustomed to contribute the first -fruits of grain and ol her products to parish priests and vicars as tot! if Cod,
we ordain that no more be demanded than what is
