Church Vent...

Check out this letter we got from our church today, they want us to pay and extra $200 ($700 total), because the music director is resigning and they have to find a new one... I'm pissed!


As you have no doubt heard, Our Lady of Grace's long-time music director, is resigning effective December 31. I am writing to all couples who have
wedding plans pending with our parish to reassure you that we will make every effort to
provide suitable music which is in accord with the principles of the Roman Catholic
liturgy for your ceremony. We will do this through the services of a pool of talented
leaders of song and accompanists until a new music director is hired.
Because of this change in staff, the fees for musicians will be changing effective January
1,2006 to a single $200 fee, payable to the church. The church offering remains $500.
I realize that this represents an increase from what you may have been told when you
first planned your wedding, to a total of $700. Because you were not informed of the
possibility of such a change when you first set your wedding date, I am asking you to
accept this increase voluntarily, out of a spirit of cooperation with the rest of the
members of our parish who must meet the increased costs of our new situation. If this
presents a difficulty, please contact the priest or deacon with whom you are planning
your ceremony.
Let me once again state our parish's intention to provide suitable music for you during
this time of transition, and wish you God's blessing during these exciting days of your
engagement.

I would tell them that is NOT your problem!! You know I was just having this conversation with someone today..The Catholic church is driving people further and further away It really makes me so mad and upset...they should be kissing our a$$es that we still want to get married in the church after all the crap going on..Sorry just needed to vent!

Wow there has to be a way for you to fight that 200 increase!!!!! You had no idea about her leaving so they shouldn't charge you an extra 200 on top of the 500 you have to pay!! I agree the Catholic church seems to be pushing people away...

DOHHHHHHHHHHHH

That is unreal! So sorry to hear that.....

Omg, that's crazy!! They never bother to tell you what needing a new music director has to do with dishing out an extra $200. And they're asking this of all the couples, some nerve they've got!!

I'm so annyoned, we are not payong the extra $200.

---

Posted by Colleen1230

I'm so annyoned, we are not payong the extra $200.

---

this is going to sound harsh, but what else are you going to do? if you have time to choose another church, you'd have to go through some sort of rigamarole. just pay the fee - trust me, i'd be way annoyed too, but in the end, we'd just suck it up

---

Posted by ColleenMc

I echo other responses and agree that the Catholic Church is pushing people further away. My church is acting like my wedding is a hassle. They are always snotty on the phone, and act like I am bothering them when I have a question.

---

I feel the same way!!! Like THEY are doing us a favor by letting us get married in a church!A church is for the parish not for the priests!!!!

And on top of that we were paying an extra $75 to have someone else sign, we're not using the person that was leaving. They still want us to pay the extra $75, plus the $200 to cover the cost of the new music director. If the music director of my church is making $200 for each wedding then I'm quitting my job and becoming a church singer!
It gets me so annoyed because they are giving us a hard time about everything. We are active members of the church, it's not like we just picked a random church to get married in. Plus, we are brining our own priest in, so they don't ever have to pay one of the priests in the parish to do the mass. I just feel like the church has become such a business. Soon they will have cooperate sponsor like everything else these days!

From reading the letter that you re-typed, it appears to me that the $200 is the fee that the interim musicians charge the church for their services. Considering that most DJ's charge that much an hour or more, I don't think it sounds unreasonable. Have you researched the cost, like if you were to go out and secure your own organist?

So if you were to pay $700 to the church that would be what - 2 or 3% of the total cost of your wedding? Is that unreasonable? If you think it is-like someone else said, go somewhere else.

---

Posted by carlsbride

From reading the letter that you re-typed, it appears to me that the $200 is the fee that the interim musicians charge the church for their services. Considering that most DJ's charge that much an hour or more, I don't think it sounds unreasonable. Have you researched the cost, like if you were to go out and secure your own organist?

So if you were to pay $700 to the church that would be what - 2 or 3% of the total cost of your wedding? Is that unreasonable? If you think it is-like someone else said, go somewhere else. But it sounds like you have decided not to help out the church, so I guess your problem is solved right?

---

It's not that I'm not helping my church, I am an active member of my church, and I make donations every week. If you read my post above, you would have seen that I have already secured my own organist, and was already paying an extra $75 for that. The current organist leaving is not effecting my wedding in any way because I was not using her, but the church still wants me to pay an extra $200. My fi and I are on a tight budget, and have cut out many things out of our wedding already because we can not afford it. We simply do not have an extra $200 to pay for a service we never planned on using, and I don't feel we should be responsible to pay the extra money. I don't think that anyone that is an active member of my parish and has already booked their wedding should have to pay this extra money. If they need to raise the fees this should be done for the new people booking the church, not the people that already have booked their date.
Choosing another church is not an option at this point, my invitations have already been printed, and this is the church where I have received all of my sacraments, I would not want to get married in any other church.