Survey on Church Tithing in Paris Reveals Positive and Negative Developments

The Archdiocese of Paris draws a lesson from the evolution in the collection baskets over the last ten years. This situation offers some suggestions for the future. The Archdiocese has just undertaken a large survey on parish tithing, and the first results offer two main lessons. First of all, the number of donors has dropped: the capital now has 58,000 regular givers, which is 9% less than ten years ago.

To counterbalance this first number, however, the survey shows that the tithes have increased by 17%: this means that the average amount given is higher, 450€, the median amount being 200€.

What factors can explain the decrease in the number of donors, considering that since the attacks in November 2015, the average religious practice has increased throughout the diocese? Christophe Rousselot, director of financial resource development, sees it as the fruit of a “sociological evolution”.

According to him, certain families living on the territory of certain parishes – such as St. Sulpice in the 6th arrondissement – can no longer retain the family apartments they inherited because of the rise in real estate prices in the neighborhood. The apartments are often bought by foreigners, non-Catholics, who do not become parishioners.

“On Rue de Rivoli,” he says, “it’s been ages since there have been families in the sector. The tithes of Saint-Germain-l’Auxerrois are left up to a few parishioners.” Then, pointing to another reason, he adds, “other neighborhoods are also very complex because they are inhabited by members of other religions.”

As for the increase in the amount of the tithes, it is supposedly due to the efforts made by the pastors to convince their flocks to be more generous; the survey also shows that the practice of direct debit, which makes the process easier for the donor, has become more widespread and currently represents 25% of donations.

Education of Younger Parishioners

 

While the number of practicing Catholics has increased, there is still a lot of work to be done to make them more aware, especially the young people. Seeing that people from 18 to 30 often no longer carry checkbooks, some parishes have innovated in finding ways for them to participate in the tithes. Thus in the 7th arrondissement, at Saint-François-Xavier, Christophe Rousselot explain that a team from the diocese “stood at the bottom of the steps with a payment terminal, and were thus able to collect subscriptions and subscription renewals for automatic withdrawals after Mass”.

18 to 25 year olds have also been solicited over the past few years for the needs of the diocese itself, “which has created hundreds of automatic debits.” They are often very small, he adds, “from one to five euros, but it does create a habit.”

He concludes: “We are now going to see about young professionals, by appointing someone from our team who will be in contact with all the parishes, youth groups, and pilgrimages…”

For the record, ever since the Act of the Separation of Church and State, the Republic of France no longer “recognizes, pays or subsidizes any worship”. Deprived of all public resources, the bishops and priests had to turn to the generosity of the faithful. Thus the “clergy’s tithe” was established in 1906, and later came to be known as the “Tithe of the Cult”.

St. Pius X, in his catechism, places the grave obligation to tithe under the fourth precept of the Church which orders us to “pay the dues or making the offerings which have been established in recognition of God's supreme dominion over all things and as a means of providing for the becoming support of His ministers”.