What is Tithe?

Tithing is a contribution motivated by faith, from which the faithful experience communion, participation and co-responsibility in evangelization.

It is a systematic and periodic contribution from the faithful, through which each community co-responsibly assumes its own financial support and contributes to the support of the universal church. Tithing is an act of evangelized people committed to evangelization.

As a contribution system, tithing has the following characteristics:

- It is related to the experience of God and brotherly love;

- Tithers make a moral commitment to the church;

- The assumed value is in accordance with the correctly formed individual conscience;

- Tithing takes on a systematic and periodic character.

Having Faith is recognizing that everything we have and are was, deep down, given by God himself. So, convinced that, in the community of Faith, we find this privileged space for meeting and cultivating our religion, we give back to God a tenth of everything we have.

This tenth part, or ten percent, is a practice of our first parents in the Faith, the men and women of the Old Testament.

Today, the tenth part is what our heart has out of conscience, love and gratuitousness to return to God.

God does not see the quantity, but the quality of our return, because, in truth, before God we will always be “debtors”, because the wonders are countless, countless that He performs in our lives. Therefore:

-Tithe is not an offering: The offering is my personal good, which I donated freely, of my own free will, out of pure gratuitousness.

-Tithe is not alms: Alms is that which belongs to the poor, and which may be superfluous to me, in the understanding of the Christian Faith, belongs to the poor.

-Tithing is not payment: It is not payment because I am not purchasing any service or product, although this returned amount is always reverted to improvements so that you can better cultivate your faith in the community.

-Tithing is not collaboration: Because the employee can donate a certain amount, but does not commit, it is not part of the work directly.

TITHING is, therefore, an act of Faith, a recognition that my possessions do not belong to me, God gives me everything and I give him back part.

It is an exercise in humility and a way to not be a slave to money and material things.

As a moral commitment, the contribution of tithe arises from a personal decision that expresses effective belonging to the church lived in a concrete community.

The Apostle Saint Paul teaches: “Each one should give as he has decided in his heart, without thinking about embarrassment, for God loves a cheerful giver.”

• Who can be a tithe payer?

  
  

  All baptized men and women who attend the community: faithful participants in the assembly, members of pastorals, movements, associations linked to the parish community, participants in ministries and liturgical services, catechists, among others. Tithe is a seed, a power, a possibility. It should be a declaration of your love for God, the Church, people and yourself.

  
  

  • Is there a pre-determined amount for Tithe?

    
    

    We must return as tithe whatever our heart tells us. It doesn't matter the amount, but it must be given with a good heart, because what is donated willingly is good for both the giver and the receiver! We remember the example of that poor widow who only had two coins, but caught Jesus' attention because of the greatness of her faith, as she gave everything she had. Jesus valued her offering, not for the value she gave, but for the love she demonstrated (Conf. Lc 21,1-4).

    
    

    • Where and how is Tithe money used?

      
      

      The collection is applied to the four fundamental dimensions of our entire parish.

      
      

      1. Religious dimension: Christian’s relationship with God.
         - Acquisition of important materials for pastorals.

         - Acquisition of materials for masses: vestments, candles, flowers, printed material in general, etc.

         -Fund employee expenses: salaries, social security contributions, stipends for priests, transportation, promotion of training courses, etc.

         -Maintenance and conservation of the church: water, electricity, telephone, renovations, building materials, cleaning, office materials, etc.

         -Among other expenses and projects in general.

         2. Charitable Dimension: Which establishes a right or a duty of the church's mission in charity.
         -Aid to the poorest brothers and sisters, assistance to wanderers, the indigent, the sick, the elderly, the unemployed, etc.

         -Tithe must be a response to the appeals of Jesus' love, in the person of the impoverished.

         3. Missionary dimension: Support of the church’s evangelizing action.
         -Investment in the training and training of pastoral agents and community animators.

         -Maintenance and renovation of catechesis rooms and halls for training meetings.

         
         

         4. Ecclesiastical dimension: Direct and indirect needs of the church.
         -Contribution so that the community has everything necessary to carry out divine worship and develop its mission.

         -Awareness to lead the faithful to take on community life.