FishEaters Traditional Catholic Forums

My friend is in the process of getting his marriage convalidated. He asked me if it would be appropriate to give a gift of money and how much would be the correct amount.

It is a Traditional parish and I honestly do not have a clue as to what to tell him.

The priest has done paperwork and taken care of all the things necessary and will perform, what I assume is a short blessing and ceremony.

My friend wants to show his gratitude, but he does not want to offend the priest either by giving an amount that may be embarrasing to the priest or may appear to be tainted.

I am going to witness the Marriage. So while, I don't have to offer a toast at the reception, or arrange for a bachelor party, he did ask of me this question.

Does anyone have any suggestions, or is there a good rule of thumb to follow in such matters.

I have never had this kind of personal service done for me or my family since moving to Tradition. My wedding, and all my children were baptized while attending the NO.

I don't know a thing about how much.  I know that the parish I used to work at had an amount of money that was given to the priest as a standard, but I can't tell you how much that was.  What about taking the priest out to dinner?

I've heard $100-$200 for a wedding.  If the priest did less work in this case than he would do for a standard wedding, maybe the low end would be appropriate.  Of course, if you cannot afford that, that's OK.

We didn't have a traditional service or priest, and were married outside of Mass during Lent of last year, but we gave the priest $100 for our convalidation ceremony. The priest did have to meet with us several times before the ceremony, be available for about an hour the day of, and help us pick the readings.

If it helps put it into perspective at all, we gave $50 for our daughter's baptism. We are on the high end of middle class for our area with one income, one child, and one on the way. We do own a house. So those are our circumstances.

Thanks for the input folks. That's what I was thinking somewhere around $100 to $200.

I will pass it on.