Good response to church gate collections debate

THE deadline for submissions on the issue of church gate collections has passed and a good number of responses were received.
Earlier this summer, Fr Tom Ryan asked for submissions on the matter. On the parish website he wrote, “Whilst many charities and community groups benefit from the tradition of holding church gate collections, strictly speaking, such collections do not fall within the remit of the church since they involve receiving a permit from the gardaí for a street collection. On a recent weekend in the month of May, a diocesan-wide census of mass attendance was taken in every parish throughout Killaloe diocese. This census, the first in a series this year, is being undertaken to establish the level of mass attendance in each parish. One-thousand five-hundred and sixty-five people attended mass in Shannon on the weekend of May 21-22. These churchgoing people are perceived as an easy target, since they require very little organisation or personnel on the part of fundraisers. Whilst the vast majority of church gate collections are for excellent causes, the fact remains that some are not related to the purpose for which people assemble at mass.”
The issue has caused some debate on a national level and Fr Ryan acknowledged that there are a number of pertinent considerations. “Is it fair that church-going people should be targeted in this way, as people have a constitutional right to have free, unimpeded access to their place of worship? Is there not a more appropriate location for these gardaí-permitted collections and why are they confined to Catholic places of worship? If church gate collections were ended what would the consequences be for community groups and charities?  In times of limited resources, how best can we help these groups? What are the views of the organisations that use the provision of church gate collections? What are the views of the churchgoers who are being asked to contribute on such a frequent basis?
A large number of people and organisations responded to the call for submissions and it is set to come up for discussion at the next meeting of the Pastoral Council in September.