Must Catholics Tithe 10%? The short answer is: “Yes.” The longer answer is: “Yes, more than that.” We are going to prove this from the Bible, the Church Fathers and recent papal encyclicals. Yes, I can already see the common objections coming from not only mainstream Catholics, but even traditional Catholics.
One diocese in New England even has this tired old error on their website about how much we are to give: “No percentage has been prescribed universally for supporting the work of our New Testament priests in the Catholic Church. But the Old Testament 10-percent precedent is worth considering.”
Your objections will be tackled fairly—not with straw-men arguments—a little later on.
Defining the terms.
Tithing is giving 10% of your income to any of the following: Your parish, your diocese, the Vatican, priests, religious, nuns, sisters, single-celibates and even projects to build up Churches, rectories, convents or monasteries. The term tithe literally means 10%, so this is not just an interchangeable term with “giving some money to charity.”
This is easier to grasp in the Romance languages. For example, the tithe in Spanish is el diezmo in some countries or el décimo in other countries. Either way, it bears closer resemblance to the word ten in Spanish, namely, diez or la decena.
Almsgiving is giving your money to the poor. Traditionally, this was seen as going above and beyond one’s tithe donated to priests or religious. A tithe can only go to priests or religious. But alms can go to either priests or lay folks. Later, we will see how this plays into the corrupt use of money found in nearly every diocese in the United States.
The Old Testament Challenge.
I know most people usually skim Bible passages found within internet articles, but I would ask you to read this one carefully:
From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the Lord of hosts. But you say, ‘How shall we return?’ Will man rob God? Yet you are robbing me. But you say, ‘How have we robbed You?’ In your tithes and contributions. You are cursed with a curse, for you are robbing me, the whole nation of you. Bring the full tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. And thereby put me to the test, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need. I will rebuke the devourer for you, so that it will not destroy the fruits of your soil, and your vine in the field shall not fail to bear, says the Lord of hosts. Then all nations will call you blessed, for you will be a land of delight, says the Lord of hosts.—Malachi 3:7-12.
The first Bible challenge above is negative. Notice that God declares that you not tithing a full 10% is “robbing God.” Not tithing “the full tithe” also brings down a curse on your family. (Not my words. It’s in the first set of bold font above.) But then there’s the positive Bible challenge in the same chapter from Malachi. It’s the only time in the Bible I am aware of where God says “Put me to the test,” as in: Try tithing and see if I do not “open the windows of heaven for you and pour down for you a blessing until there is no more need.” (Again, see the bold font above.)
The New Testament Is Higher than the Old Testament.
Of course, most Catholics at this point in my article will say that we are not bound to the Old Testament. That’s true: We are called to more.
Besides the fact that lazy Catholics who discount the Old Testament are usually just resuscitating the old heresy of Marcionism (the heresy that the God of the Old Testament is different from the God of the New Testament—unless they are truly insisting the 613 Mitzvot are now defunct in the New Law) they forget the fact that Christians are always bound a higher law in the New Covenant than in the Old Covenant.
Consider, for example, what Christ says about anger and lust: You have heard that it was said to those of old, “You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.” But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment… You have heard that it was said, “You shall not commit adultery.” But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”—Mt 5:21, 22a, 27, 28.
So also, finances in the New Testament are held at a higher level than the simple 10% tithe in the Old Testament. Consider what happens to Ananias and Sapphira in Acts of the Apostles for their selfishness, dishonesty and disobedience when it comes to finances:
But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property, and with his wife’s knowledge he kept back for himself some of the proceeds and brought only a part of it and laid it at the apostles’ feet. But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back for yourself part of the proceeds of the land? While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? Why is it that you have contrived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to man but to God.” When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last. And great fear came upon all who heard of it.—Acts 5:1-5.
The Church Fathers on almsgiving.
I’m going to give a few quotes from the Church Fathers that will admittedly sound Marxist to the 21st century reader. But we’re going to quickly extract any Marxism from them in the very next section:
-“Let the strong take care of the weak; let the weak respect the strong. Let the rich man minister to the poor man; let the poor man give thanks to God that he gave him one through whom his need might be satisfied.”—Pope St. Clement I, 1st Century Rome.
-“The bread in your cupboard belongs to the hungry man; the coat hanging in your closet belongs to the man who needs it; the shoes rotting in your closet belong to the man who has no shoes; the money which you put into the bank belongs to the poor. You do wrong to everyone you could help but fail to help.”—St. Basil of Caesarea, 330-370 A.D.
-“Do you want to honor Christ’s body? Then do not scorn him in his nakedness, nor honor him here in the Church with silken garments while neglecting him outside where he is cold and naked… Once again, I am not forbidding you to supply these adornments; I am urging you to provide these other things as well, and indeed to provide them first. No one has ever been accused for not providing ornaments, but for those who neglect their neighbor a hell awaits with an inextinguishable fire and torment in the company of the demons. Do not, therefore, adorn the Church and ignore your afflicted brother, for he is the most precious temple of all.”—St. John Chrysostom, 347-407
But isn’t that socialism found in Acts of the Apostles and the Church Fathers above?
It is true that many “Marxist Catholics” involved in liberation theology over the last 70 years have misused Acts of the Apostles and Church Fathers in insisting that all Catholics must “have all things in common.”—Acts 2:44. However, not everyone is called to live what was required in Acts of the Apostles in order to be saved.
GK Chesterton also does a masterful job in this in his book on St. Francis of Assisi disproving the early Franciscans were socialists. Yes, Chesterton was amazingly facing Marxists commandeering that great saint even as early as 1923 when he wrote that beautiful book.
But the clearest rebuttal of socialists hijacking Acts of the Apostles and the Franciscans goes like this: Being a generous Catholic is always voluntary. Being a poor Franciscan is always voluntary. On the other hand, socialism and communism always force people to share everything in a manner that is always involuntary. Thus, liberation theology is obviously not based in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, nor is it found in real Catholic Church history.
Papal Documents against Socialism:
Let’s look at the post-Trent, pre-Vatican II papal statements against socialism. There is a fascinating pattern that is not difficult to discern:
-In Rerum Novarum from 1891, Pope Leo XIII affirms the right of private property and the damage socialism does to workers’ rights. But he then demonstrates that Catholics who oppose socialism must be extremely generous as we “keep before the eyes of both classes the precepts of duty and the laws of the Gospel – that Gospel which, by inculcating self restraint, keeps men within the bounds of moderation, and tends to establish harmony among the divergent interests and the various classes which compose the body politic.”—#55. In other words, avoid communism, but be very generous with the poor.
-In Notre Charge Apostolique in 1910, Pope St. Pius X condemns that “seductive confusion” found in “the words Liberty, Equality, Fraternity… which will benefit the less Utopian exploiters of the people… [bringing] socialism in its train.” Yet he then insists true union in society “is attainable only by Catholic charity, and that is why Catholic charity alone can lead the people in the march of progress towards the ideal civilization.” Again, to oppose socialism, we Catholics must live in a voluntary charity as much as possible to counteract that forced “charity” of Marxism.
-In Quadragesimo Anno from 1931, Pope Pius XI firmly rejects socialism and communism which already were claiming “social justice.” Yet the holy Pope insists it is not secular justice warriors, but rather adherents to Christian charity who will help the poor: “The law of charity, which is the bond of perfection must always take a leading role. How completely deceived, therefore, are those rash reformers who concern themselves with the enforcement of justice alone — and this, commutative justice — and in their pride reject the assistance of charity!”—#137.
Other 20th century papal encyclicals against socialism include shocking statements from the Church Fathers as to why Christians are to be extremely generous with their money if they want to be saved. However, these popes writing against socialism were always hyper-vigilant to demonstrate that such charity has to be voluntary in the eyes of God, not mandatory in the eyes of the State.
Again, the key word here is: voluntary, voluntary, voluntary. That is why the early Church Fathers or recent Popes can encourage Christians to give much more than 10% without being Marxists themselves. Just like membership in the Catholic Church, it’s voluntary.
Still, it is not enough for traditional Catholics to get on social media and rip on socialism. We Catholics must open our pocket books and live in charity if we are to truly stand against the social-justice warriors who want to grant the government full access to all of our finances.
But the USCCB and the Vatican are corrupt in their finances. Why give to them?
This is true. I will not give a single penny to the USCCB due to their involvement with Catholic Charities or the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) or even Catholic Relief Services (CRS) that has supported contraception. Under Biden, Catholic Charities received billions of dollars for trafficking children as Liz Yore and I recently explained here.
Or, if you want to do a deep dive into the corruption, spend a few hours on Lepanto Institute which has sourced every single claim in an unbelievably meticulous way.
And the Vatican is equally corrupt. LifeSite News reported: “Chinese dissident Guo Wengui claims that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) ‘allocates up to $2 billion a year’ to buy the Vatican’s silence concerning the ongoing persecution of the Catholic Church in China and other human rights abuses.” Notice that is not $2M a year, but $2B a year, allegedly going from the CCP to the Vatican! This might explain why under both corrupt Vatican regimes (the one starting in 2013 and the one starting in 2025) the CCP is still choosing the communist bishops while the good bishops literally go homeless in China.
Even the National Catholic Register admitted in 2019 that the Vatican funded an Elton John movie. This is just one of a hundred reasons why you should not donate to the Vatican’s Peter’s Pence.
So we should only tithe to lay Catholics?
No. As I wrote in the beginning of the article, by classic definitions, a tithe can technically only go to priests or religious or a Church. How about alms to lay Catholics? It is indeed good to give alms to lay Catholics, but again, this must be above and beyond the 10% to priests and religious. At least according to traditional Catholic teaching.
Yet even then, one must do research on lay recipients of alms. I recently saw the 990 for a Catholic pro-life superstar who took home a yearly salary of $388,000. Yes, you read that correctly. I also know of people working for a campus-ministry “missionary” organization with similar six-figure salaries to that.
Then to whom shall we donate our tithe if all these people are misusing money?
Let’s briefly discuss traditional priestly orders and their finances. There is the SSPX which has valid sacraments but lives in canonical limbo. Then, there are congregations who also offer the Traditional Latin Mass (TLM) but are canonically regular like Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest (ICKSP) and the Fraternity of St. Peter (FSSP.) I have many good readers, listeners and donors who go to all these groups, so I have no problem with you going to any of these parishes.
But how do the latter former Ecclesia-Dei groups (ICKSP and FSSP) deal with the fact their diocese collects money from these traditional parishes for USCCB recipients like the CCHD (Catholic Campaign for Human Development)? This is a problem because, as the Lepanto Institute reported on the CCHD: “The Catholic Campaign for Human Development has been a source of controversy and has a history of funding organizations that promote abortion, homosexuality, contraception, and Marxism.”
By my estimation in talking to traditional Catholics across the country, most American FSSP parishes discourage their parishioners from donating to the annual diocesan appeal that will help fund the CCHD, among other scandalous programs. Such FSSP parishes are to be commended for this, even if such a stance reduces their ability to flex against the SSPX for their supposed “disobedience” to the local diocese on similar issues.
What is worse, though, is that a minority of American FSSP parishes still help fund local diocesan programs when they ask for help. This doesn’t sound like a bad thing, until you consider the CCHD and CRS are both pro-contraception. (See Lepanto above if you doubt this.)
Yet, one traditional priest or another might reply to me at this point: “We dog-ear our donations to the diocese to go to projects we can ethically support.” Fine. That’s great. But that doesn’t take care of the main problem, namely, that the USCCB has quotas for each diocese on all programs. In other words, even if your diocese honors your desire to fund one special hat of your choice passed around, they will make sure another’s donation fills up the other hats to completely meet the quota on the CCHD, the CRS, or Catholic Charities. Thus, one donation always helps the whole pot of corruption when you are dealing with the USCCB and canonically regular parishes.
That is why I only donate to the SSPX when it comes to large traditional priestly congregations. Still, there’s lots of other options besides them. You can purchase a good priest (maybe your diocesan priest doing both new and old Mass? Maybe an FSSP priest? Maybe a Byzantine Catholic priest?) some new tires for his car, or something off-the-record where there is no chance your donation will fund child trafficking, even if by only 1%.
Here’s another video to watch if you doubt that the US bishops have been paid to keep open-borders, leading to the trafficking and rape of thousands of children.
Or, you can donate also donate to traditional priests and nuns that are not in large congregations. For example, I am always transparent here and here where your donations go. Or, lest I be accused of writing this whole article as a grift for myself, let me say that I now donate to a new traditional group of priests and traditional nuns currently starting-up in Nigeria. You can donate to them, too.
Thank you very much to my donors. Again, I’m not writing this article because you were not generous over Christmas. In fact, you all were extremely generous this Christmas and I’m doing just fine. I now have enough for a real hermitage (not my condo) but I will wait to build until I have enough to build a nice traditional chapel. Contact me for updates on that chapel at your leisure.
Oh, and as most of you know, I know several Hollywood celebrities. However, none of them give me any money, except for buying the occasional dinner. I want to keep it that way. That way, I can spiritually influence them (and vice-versa) without money or popularity bleeding into theology or the salvation of souls. Thus, all my income comes from regular donors like you.
Summary of tithing and almsgiving.
This article has included enough reasons from the Bible, the Church Fathers and the 19th century Popes why you are to be very generous with your money, even despite the current corruption in the Vatican and the chanceries. In fact, if there are “curses” (Malachi 3) on families that don’t tithe, then why would you let the USCCB’s current corruption further keep your family from holiness in finding other traditional outlets to whom you can donate?
Or, if you don’t like that fear-based approach, look at this through the eyes of charity: Consider how many blessings happen to families that tithe a full 10%, as seen in the same chapter three from Malachi. Thus, do not let corrupt organizations or lay Catholics getting rich on “campus ministry” or “the pro-life movement” keep God from blessing your family abundantly as you find other targets of your financial charity.
Test God with tithing, and He will bless you not only spiritually, but also materially. I promise.
Let me finish by writing this: A priest I know has always given a 10% tithe and a 10% alms of his income over nearly his whole adult life, and this priest has never been short any money in his pocket. Ever.