Lisa —

You are asked to make a nominal payment, $5.00 in most dioceses, if you are able to,
as a sacrificial offering. The stipend goes to the support of the priest who says the Mass.

Many missionaries live and do their work with these stipends.

Mary Ann

Dear Lisa,

Thanks for the good question.

In a previous answer I said:

Because the Scriptures confirm that a worker is worth his wage (Luke 10:3-9),
it is normal to give, what's called, a stipend to the priest. It's not absolutely necessary, but justice does call for something.

As we have said in previous postings, the Church, nor any priest, is not going
to get rich over saying Masses for the faithful departed or for the living faithful.
Our Blessed Lord has told us in the Scriptures that a worker is worth his wage.
It is only just that the time a priest spends on the specific spiritual needs of one
or more people, correspond to his wage.

I hope you can explain this to your non-Catholic friend, if you can't come back, but also try
searching our knowledge base; we have answered similar questions, like the ones below:

• How much of a monetary [stipend|donation] should be given to the priest for a wedding?
• I feel like I have left my deceased grandmother down. How does this affect her soul?
  

Hope this helps,

Mike