I am sure that the fees are waved for the poor. Paying around $100 for baptism or confirmation would not be an unfair fee in the United States for most families, especially for families who only show up, and therefore contribute to the Church, only when their kids are receiving the Sacraments. People pay a lot more for post-Sacrament parties.
Accra may be a big city but there is a strong wealth gap and most of its people are young and poor. For the Vatican to say, “You’re big enough to take care of yourself.” seems to follow the ongoing trend (that Luke so expertly pointed out) of reducing financial support for the Church in Africa. I think this speaks more for how poorly Vatican finances have been going than anything else…but since Accra and many West African dioceses are not anywhere close to being self-supporting this is bad news all around.
Agree with you that this feels like more a reflection of Rome's finances than Accra's, and I can see the logic from an "if you have to cut money *somewhere*, Accra is a reasonable place to cut from" view (compared to other, much poorer dioceses elsewhere in Ghana, let alone in poorer countries). Accra absolutely has some people living in extreme poverty, but it also has some quite wealthy people who presumably can/should carry more of their share (compared to, say, cutting funding in Wa, when there's not really a base of wealth to take up the slack).
It does sound from the Archbishop's comments that a big financial focus for him is raising money for the children's hospital - which is certainly a worthy initiative, but I'd be curious if that means the diocese is more or less able to be self-sufficient on core sacramental ministry, and does that play into the dicastery's decision as well? As in, is there a definition of what "self sufficient" is supposed to be able to cover, and does it generally include/exclude apostolic initiatives?
Interesting article.
"Adult church dues will increase from 24 to 50 Ghanaian cedis ($2.26 to $4.71)."
Is that annual? Monthly?
Says "annual" a couple paragraphs up
Ah!
The "stole fees" seem like they would be equivalent to over a hundred dollars in the US, based on a full day at minimum wage? Yipes.
I am sure that the fees are waved for the poor. Paying around $100 for baptism or confirmation would not be an unfair fee in the United States for most families, especially for families who only show up, and therefore contribute to the Church, only when their kids are receiving the Sacraments. People pay a lot more for post-Sacrament parties.
Accra may be a big city but there is a strong wealth gap and most of its people are young and poor. For the Vatican to say, “You’re big enough to take care of yourself.” seems to follow the ongoing trend (that Luke so expertly pointed out) of reducing financial support for the Church in Africa. I think this speaks more for how poorly Vatican finances have been going than anything else…but since Accra and many West African dioceses are not anywhere close to being self-supporting this is bad news all around.
Agree with you that this feels like more a reflection of Rome's finances than Accra's, and I can see the logic from an "if you have to cut money *somewhere*, Accra is a reasonable place to cut from" view (compared to other, much poorer dioceses elsewhere in Ghana, let alone in poorer countries). Accra absolutely has some people living in extreme poverty, but it also has some quite wealthy people who presumably can/should carry more of their share (compared to, say, cutting funding in Wa, when there's not really a base of wealth to take up the slack).
It does sound from the Archbishop's comments that a big financial focus for him is raising money for the children's hospital - which is certainly a worthy initiative, but I'd be curious if that means the diocese is more or less able to be self-sufficient on core sacramental ministry, and does that play into the dicastery's decision as well? As in, is there a definition of what "self sufficient" is supposed to be able to cover, and does it generally include/exclude apostolic initiatives?