Local churches adopt electronic ways to donate
Dec 25, 2012 (Menafn - The Citizens' Voice - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --PayPal may be the new collection basket for modern area churches.
The trend toward shopping, banking and paying bills online or through recurring automatic bank drafts has led local churches, especially those with younger members, to adopt electronic avenues for giving.
"Younger people are asking for options beyond the traditional," said the Rev. Dennis D'Augostine, pastor of the nearly 4-year-old Steamtown Church in Scranton, which accepts one-time and recurring donations online through PayPal, among other giving options.
Pastors and members of churches that encourage online or automated donations list several practical reasons to make the methods available: they are convenient, reliable, regular and easy to track come tax time, cost less than printing envelopes and meet the needs of people who rarely carry cash or checks.
Church leaders also name more contemplative considerations.
Signing up for automatic bank drafts requires parishioners to reflect on their financial commitment to their church.
"It is not just, 'What do I have in my wallet at the end of the weekend?' It is, 'What do I want to give and how is that going to help out what we're doing as a greater community?'" said Jerry Mahon, a parish council member at St. Eulalia's Roman Catholic parish in Roaring Brook Township, which started an automatic offertory program on Nov. 18. About 100 families signed up for the program during its first week, he said.
The program is an extension of many different initiatives the parish is adopting to "grow from good to great," he said.
At the Peckville Assembly of God website, PayPal donations are accepted from local parishioners and people who watch the services on television and the Internet. Online giving, the site notes, allows church attendees to "be fully focused on the worship service" instead of "having to worry about writing a check and filling out an envelope during the service."
"It really helps keep people from being distracted," said Fred Cicilioni, the church's media director.
But accommodating modern financial practices also means participating in their downsides, the Rev. D'Augostine said. That can be troubling for religious institutions.
"The average American has 10,000 in credit card debt," he said. Accepting online payments, to some extent, "assumes that you have people that are being taught how to handle their finances."
Cicilioni said that while online donations and automatic bank transfers are increasing at the Peckville Assembly of God, most people still use the envelopes distributed during services to contribute to everything from overseas missions to new public ball fields built at the church.
Diocese of Scranton spokesman William Genello said that while a few parishes in the Roman Catholic diocese "are in the beginning stages" of accepting direct donations from parishioners' bank accounts, "the majority of parishes continue to rely upon the traditional envelope method of encouraging contributions to their weekly collection."
For all its modern adaptability -- Steamtown meets regularly in a hotel ballroom -- the church maintains old-fashioned ways for people to contribute, like a post office mailing address and a container called the "joy box" in which people can drop donations discreetly.
"Most churches are starting to take a look at this seriously, but change comes slowly with churches," the Rev. D'Augostine said.
llegere@timesshamrock.com
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