Q. I am from a small parish and I asked for a Mass to be celebrated for my grandmother on a specific date and I included a cash offering with my request. The pastor said the date was taken at our parish but said he would include her in the intentions and send my offering to others. Why did he do that? — E.P., Rockford

A. The pastor no doubt had already accepted a stipend for a Mass request and was being compliant with church law.

Parish priests are to fulfill the reasonable requests of the faithful and usually in a small parish it is not too difficult to meet those requests.

However, priests can only accept one offering or stipend per Mass. You can have more than one intention, but only one stipend.

Excess stipends are to be forwarded on to the chancery. From there they are distributed either to retired priests to say Masses for specified intentions or to missionaries for whom these stipends are most welcome.

Historically, the purpose of offering a Mass stipend for a particular Mass intention has been twofold.

On the one hand, the money that a priest received for saying his daily Mass for a specific intention was essentially his source of income — and in some poorer countries it sometimes still is.

At the same time, by giving a stipend, the person requesting that a Mass be celebrated made a sacrificial offering of his own. These sacrifices are considered to be a contribution to the good of  the church and its ministers.

Today, of course, priests do not rely on Mass stipends to pay for their basic necessities, but the laws surrounding the issue are basically the same.

Canon Law explains this for us:

“Canon 945, (section) 1. In accord with the approved practice of the Church, any priest celebrating or concelebrating is permitted to receive an offering to apply to the Mass for a specific intention.

“(Section) 2. It is recommended earnestly to priests that they celebrate Mass for the intention of the Christian faithful, especially the needy, even if they have not received an offering.

“Canon 946. The Christian faithful who give an offering to apply the Mass for their intention contribute to the good of the Church and by that offering share its concern to support its ministers and works.

“Canon 947. Any appearance of trafficking or trading is to be excluded entirely from the offering for Masses.” In order to avoid the appearance of trafficking or trading, there are rules governing such aspects as the obligation of celebrating even if an offering has been lost and limiting the number of intentions per day.

“Canon 954. If in certain churches or oratories more Masses are asked to be celebrated than can be celebrated there, it is permitted for them to be celebrated elsewhere unless the donors have expressly indicated a contrary intention.

“Canon 957. The duty and right of exercising vigilance that Mass obligations are fulfilled belong to the local ordinary in churches of secular clergy and to the superiors in churches of religious institutes or societies of apostolic life.”

Send your topics or questions for Bishop Doran’s Teaching Moment to observer@rockforddiocese.org